PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS DATE BACK TO TURN OF CENTURY

PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS PART OF CITY'S HISTORY: St. Mary's High School, shown above and established in 1925, was housed in a building erected in 1878 at the corner of William and Sprigg. Trinity Lutheran Church built a two-story school, shown below, in 1865 on Themis Street near the church building. It served as the school until 1925, when the present school on Pacific street was completed. (JUDITH ANN CROW COLLECTION)

Parochial schools make up a part of the city's history, dating before the turn of the century.

Today, parochial schools are using that history to sell parents and students on an education based in religion with an emphasis on basic skills.

Trinity Lutheran School opened Nov. 12, 1854, in a rented house that also was used for church services. Pastors served as teachers until the first full-time teacher was hired in 1859.

In 1865, a building was constructed on Themis Street that served as the school until 1925, when the present school on Pacific street was completed.

St. Vincent's College grew out of a day school called St. Vincent's Male Academy, which was established in 1838. A missionary from St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary at Perryville began looking for a site at Cape Girardeau for a college for Catholic boys. The college was founded in 1843.

The institution operated as a true college from 1843 until 1910, and educated most of the Catholic clergy in the West during a sizable part of the last half of the 19th century.

Used from 1910 until 1979 as a high school for boys preparing to be priests, and later as a center for religious retreats and meetings, the building has been empty since the last three priests left a year ago.

In 1839, the Sisters of Loretto began operating St. Vincent's Young Ladies Academy. Young girls from throughout the Midwest and South came to the school on Good Hope. As many as 500 girls were attending the school when the Civil War broke out, forcing them to remain in Cape Girardeau through the duration of the war. Approximately 20,000 girls had attended the school by the time it closed in 1923.

St. Vincent's Boys School was originally built in 1877 beside Old St. Vincent's Church on Spanish Street. It became coed when the Young Ladies Academy closed. The building was later used as a grade school until the new St. Vincent's Grade School was built in 1957 at Forest and Ritter.

St. Mary's Grade School was built beside the church at Sprigg and William in 1882. The school was originally run by the Sisters of St. Francis, but they decided to dedicate themselves to hospital work. The Sisters of Notre Dame took over in 1904.

A new school and auditorium were constructed in 1912.

Holy Family School opened its doors on South Sprigg in 1942 for black children two years after the Holy Family Parish had been established as a mission of St. Vincent's Church. The school closed in 1958.

St. Mary's High School was established by the Rev. E. Pruente Sept. 1, 1925. There were 14 students the first year and just one teacher. The first graduating class in 1929 included eight students.

The school was housed in a building erected in 1878 that served as the St. Francis hospital until 1914. For a time the building was a hotel, but was vacant for years.

Pruente, pastor of St. Mary's Church, recognized a need for a Catholic high school and purchased the building.

The high school occupied the south wing of the building. It included four "well-equipped, attractive classrooms, an assembly room, a well-stocked library, a laboratory equipped for general science and for chemistry, a gymnasium and a music room," according to a special edition of The Mirror.

The rest of the building was used as a convent.

Jack Fuerth, who owns Jones Printing Co. here, graduated from St. Mary's High School in 1941.

"It was really a small school," he remembered. "I think our graduating class was one of largest, and we had about 40 students. Six members of the graduating class started in first grade together."

Fuerth said the parochial school didn't have a lot of "extras" that were available at public high schools. "But academically it was a real strong program," said Fuerth.

"All the teachers were nuns. The year before us the school hired the first lay teacher, the science teacher. And we had sort of a substitute coach who kind of coached what few sports we had."

Today, most teachers at Catholic schools are lay teachers.

Fuerth said the stories of strict nuns are likely exaggerated. "At the time we probably thought they were very strict," he said. "But as I look back, I don't think it was so bad. They were good teachers; they were real strict, though."

In 1954, the Greater Cape Girardeau Catholic High School was built for $700,000 between Caruthers and Clark and St. Mary's High School closed.

Fuerth worked on the fund drive to construct a regional Catholic High School.

"It was first called Cape Catholic," Fuerth said. "They didn't want the regional Catholic school to be referred to as St. Mary's because it was not just for St. Mary's Parish.

In 1960 the school was renamed Notre Dame in honor of the Sisters of Notre Dame, who had taught at the school for so many years.

The old St. Mary's High School building was razed in 1956.

Fuerth said he believes the fact the religion is central to parochial education has helped it remain strong and a viable alternative to public schools through the years. "Religion is a major part of our learning," he said.