St Paul's Catholic School

From Bhamwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

St Paul's Catholic School, originally Holy Angels Academy, was a Catholic parochial school operated by St Paul's Cathedral in downtown Birmingham.

The original Holy Angels Academy was established by Father John J. Browne. With permission from Bishop John Quinlan he contacted Mother DeFrosa Smythe whose Sisters of Loretto operated a successful school in Louisville, Kentucky. Frank O'Brien assisted with the transportation of a small group of sisters, who began holding residing and classes in a rented house in 1880.

O'Brien completed construction of a school building and Holy Angels Convent for use by the sisters on Block 75 at the corner of 22nd Street and 4th Avenue North in 1882. That school closed in 1884, but reopened in 1886 as St Paul's School, with a newly-installed group of Benedictine sisters from St Walburga's Convent in Covington, Kentucky in charge of instruction. When it reopened, the school enrolled 200 students.

Under pastor William Kerrigan new school buildings, designed by Wheelock & Wheelock on the same site, were completed in the 1920s.

With the opening of John Carroll Catholic High School in 1947, the upper grades at St Paul's School were no longer offered.

Under pastor Francis McCormack the school and convent buildings were extensively repaired and renovated at a cost of $200,000 in the 1950s.

Another round of renovations were completed in 2006 by Golden Construction.