History
Less than a few miles from where the Allen Brothers landed along the banks of Buffalo Bayou to begin their “great city” in 1836, Mother M. Gabriel Dillon and two other members of the religious order of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament arrived just 37 years later in 1873.
At the time, Houston’s streets weren’t paved and most residents did not yet have electricity. In fact the entirety of the town encompassed what we now know as downtown Houston. While its population was only around 10,000 residents, its Catholic leaders were already seeing the need for a Catholic school to serve the youths in the region. These three Sisters arrived and began what is the oldest Catholic high school in Houston. Although they had no real resources to speak of when they arrived, the Sisters came with everything they would need to begin the Academy – a deep desire to spread the Word of God and educate young minds.
Over time the Sisters and their successors would help grow the school from temporary quarters on Franklin Street to a more permanent home on Crawford Street, which has seen many transitions and upgrades throughout the years. Today, much like the city it calls home, Incarnate Word Academy has grown into a shining example of what can happen when people are willing to work hard and dream big.
Regardless of the changes to the school and the community, the commitment to educate and build up young women as leaders on a strong foundation of Catholic values has not changed.
Read more about this topic: Incarnate Word Academy (Houston)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket- handkerchief?”
—Mary B. Clay, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 3, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind.”
—Imre Lakatos (1922–1974)
“The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)