History of St. Joseph School
By Mrs. Pat Dickey
"A Catholic School would develop a staunch, well formed educated Catholic," so with this in mind, Fr. Nicholaus Rupp (with his own funds and own hands) in 1856 built St. Joseph Catholic School - a one room, wooden building that stood across the street from the present school. From then until now the school has been four different buildings. One building was thought to have been a saloon originally. Even after the present building was built in 1913, and as the parish grew and enrollment increased, changes and additions were made (i.e. the former third grades, up and down, were added); then in the early 1950s, a large addition was made adding the current second and third grade hallways, the annex of the school to the church, a large, main floor kitchen, a large eating area in the basement, and the auditorium was enlarged. Later, the next addition was the seventh and eight grade wing; and finally the gym and community center were added in 1975.
As World War II Baby Boomers entered school, there was an explosion of enrollment. In 1972, there were 792 students in the school with ten Sisters and eight lay teachers. During this time of growth, Msgr. Gallagher wanted all "his kids" in St. Joe's School. This meant that the parish owned several buses to solve this problem.The personnel of the school changed considerably throughout the years. The first and only teacher in the one room school was Mr. James Molong. Then in 1882, three nuns from the newly formed Franciscans of Tiffin came to teach. In 1892, the Sisters of Notre Dame from Cleveland came to teach; however, in 1904 their house was needed for a school, so they had no place to live, nor could they commute the distance. At this time, the Ursulines came to teach; they commuted to Toledo daily. With the construction of the present school building in 1913, the Notre Dame Sisters returned as they were able to live in the school building (you can still see evidence in the fifth grade classrooms). The Notre Dame Sisters stayed at St. Joe's until 1996. Principles and teaching staff from then on have been lay.With Fr. Rupp's reasons in mind, it would be interesting to know the effects on all the lives that have been touched by the students and staff of this wonderful school in the last 150 years. |
