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St. Joseph Academy was a parochial school in present-day Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The private day school for girls opened in 1875. It was located on East Rich Street, and eventually the campus operated from Rich to Main streets, and from Sixth to Seventh streets (later Grant Ave.). The school was operated by the Sisters of Notre Dame for the Catholic Diocese of Columbus. Five of these sisters arrived from Cincinnati to Columbus in 1855. The successor to the academy is St. Joseph's Montessori School, on the grounds of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

Attributes

The St. Joseph Academy grounds included numerous buildings over its history. The oldest, at 321 E. Rich Street, is a plain two-story brick building resembling a house. The building was constructed in 1863 as the first permanent convent for the Sisters of Notre Dame in Columbus.[11]

History

Drawing of the original convent (left) and school (right)

The oldest building on the property, at 321 E. Rich Street, was the first permanent convent in the city for the Sisters of Notre Dame (today known as the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur). It was established in 1863, and is now the president's office for Franklin University.[12] The sisters had been teaching at the St. Patrick and Holy Cross schools for 20 years before building the academy, just west of the convent.[17] The 1863 convent had a cellar, as well as a chapel on the second floor.[21]

The convent and school in 1891The school had its origin in 1873, when Bishop Sylvester Rosecrans asked the Sisters of Notre Dame to found an academy in Columbus. The Rich Street property, just west of the convent,[11] was purchased in early 1874, and plans were completed during that winter. A construction contract was signed on March 1.[1] The sisters' first attempt at an academy had failed (at Broad and Young streets in 1859), so the new school's design was reportedly intended to resemble a three-story brick home, allowing it to be more sellable if the academy was to close.[17] The building's cornerstone was laid on April 15, 1875. Its doors opened for registration on September 6 of that year. The first principal, sister Josephine Ignatius, enrolled 30 students and operated the first three classrooms completed at the time: the Rhetoric Room, First Grammar Room, and Preparatory Room. Blanche Filler was the first graduate of the school, the sole graduate on June 24, 1878. In August 1879 plans were made for additional convent space.[1] In 1880 the sisters' new chapel was built, including more rooms for the sisters. In 1897 the community needed additional space, and they constructed a five-story addition to become the new convent. The original convent building was converted into parlor rooms and apartments for chaplains.[21]

In 1924, the school published its first yearbook. In the following year, the school opened a new dedicated high school building (today Alumni Hall at Franklin University).[1][12] Enrollment decreased during the Great Depression, but prosperity during World War II returned class sizes to pre-Depression levels. Class sizes increased throughout the 1950s. In 1962 a new convent building was constructed just east of the 1863 building.[21]

In 1966 the school proposed numerous changes while doubling the size of its campus, amid the Market-Mohawk urban renewal project that cleared dilapidated buildings in Downtown Columbus. The school's plans included demolishing its 1875 building and replacing it with an extension of its high school, including a theater. A chapel would be built south of the convent, and an elementary school would be built south of the high school.[18] On September 9, 1968 the school opened its new elementary school (grades K-8) at 300 E. Main Street (today Fisher Hall at Franklin University). The new building replaced the functions of the 1875 building, which had housed elementary school students at that time. On the same day, the school opened its first Montessori-style classroom, used to educate students in the second, third, and fourth grades. A Montessori-style pre-school was to open in the building on September 16 of that year, and eventually the entire school was to move to the Montessori education method.[19]

The academy closed on June 5, 1977 and the 1875 academy building was demolished on July 14 of that year. Franklin University repurposed many of the academy's old buildings in the following decades.[12] In 1987, the Montessori school moved again, to the old Sacred Heart School in Italian Village, which had closed in 1972. The St. Joseph Montessori School still operates today on the Sacred Heart Catholic Church grounds. The school is viewed as a successor to the academy, acting as a preschool, elementary, and middle school at 933 Hamlet Street.[11]

The academy's convent, a four-story brick structure built in 1897 and connected to the rear of 321 E. Rich Street, closed in June 1991 and was sold to Franklin University in October of that year. It was proposed to be demolished by the university in 1997.[12] Approval was granted in November 1997, if the school was to salvage some of the building's foundation and use it in the courtyard proposed on the site.[16]

 

Gallery

300 E. Main Street building c. 1972-1987Campus c. 1963 with labels for building construction dates

 

References

  1. St. Joseph Academy Yearbook 1875-1975. St. Joseph Academy, 1975.
  2. "St. Joseph's Academy." The Columbus Dispatch, August 3, 1875, p. 3.
  3. "Nostalgia Surrounds Finale at St. Joseph Academy." The Columbus Dispatch 6/12/1977 p.18
  4. "St. Joseph Walls Falling." The Columbus Dispatch, July 14, 1977, p. B-12.
  5. "Academy School Construction Set." The Columbus Dispatch, November 14, 1967, p. 1B.
  6. Samuelson, Robert E.; et al. (Pasquale C. Grado, Judith L. Kitchen, Jeffrey T. Darbee) (1976). Architecture: Columbus. The Foundation of The Columbus Chapter of The American Institute of Architects. p. 159. OCLC 2697928.
  7. Columbus Vignettes, OH 917.7157 A78c Vol. 02 p. 68
  8. Catholic Diocese History Vol. 01, p. 576
  9. Columbus Dispatch 9/8/1912 p. 1
  10. Columbus Dispatch 11/26/1997 p.B-6
  11. Hunter, Bob (2012). A Historical Guidebook to Old Columbus: Finding the Past in the Present in Ohio's Capital City. Ohio University Press. p. 239. ISBN 978-0821420126. OCLC 886535510.
  12. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=favorite%3ACOLUMBUS%21Columbus%2520Dispatch%2520Historical%2520and%2520Current&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=st%20joseph%20convent&docref=news/10DF3BB4E6273258
  13. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=favorite%3ACOLUMBUS%21Columbus%2520Dispatch%2520Historical%2520and%2520Current&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=st%20joseph%20convent&docref=news/10E0D88935AEF350
  14. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=favorite%3ACOLUMBUS%21Columbus%2520Dispatch%2520Historical%2520and%2520Current&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=st%20joseph%20convent&docref=news/11B86E92F5111D10
  15.  A History of the Sisters of Notre Dame on Columbus, The First 50 Years, 1855-1905, by Sister Anne Feth.
  16. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=favorite%3ACOLUMBUS%21Columbus%2520Dispatch%2520Historical%2520and%2520Current&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=1997%20-%201997&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=st%20joseph%20convent&docref=news/10DF3BE4D379A050
  17. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=favorite%3ACOLUMBUS%21Columbus%2520Dispatch%2520Historical%2520and%2520Current&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=1977%20-%201977&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=st%20joseph%20academy&docref=image/v2%3A1467499E363272B3%40EANX-NB-162B89EEB5A072A8%402443307-162ABB684A4B9C0E%4017-162ABB684A4B9C0E%40
  18. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=favorite%3ACOLUMBUS%21Columbus%2520Dispatch%2520Historical%2520and%2520Current&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=Dec%2021%201966%20-%20Dec%2021%201966&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=st%20joseph&docref=image/v2%3A1467499E363272B3%40EANX-NB-16228787B5833919%402439481-162282A44F767847%4038-162282A44F767847%40 (with map)
  19. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=favorite%3ACOLUMBUS%21Columbus%2520Dispatch%2520Historical%2520and%2520Current&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=1966%20-%201969&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22st%20joseph%22%20montessori&docref=image/v2%3A1467499E363272B3%40EANX-NB-1623DC4FE6CA5783%402440109-1623D7250FB26681%4020-1623D7250FB26681%40
  20. "Rich Street Property, c1963," SNDdeN Virtual Archives.
  21. "New Academy Elementary School." The Columbus Dispatch, November 14, 1967, p. 27A.
  22. "St. Joseph's Academy." The Columbus Dispatch, August 3, 1875, p. 2.

 

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