Shawe Memorial High School - A New Catholic High School

A New Catholic High School

In 1951 after the priests of the area were told at a meeting in North Vernon that the Mother Superior of the Ursuline Sisters in Louisville, Kentucky was willing to staff a Catholic High School in Madison. The catch: the two parochial grade schools would have to combine into one. This was a great step in uniting the two churches (Meny).

At the beginning of the academic year in the Fall of 1952, students from both parishes who were in grades one through four were taught in the St. Mary’s school building, while students in grades five through eight were at St. Michael’s school building (Stucker).

That same year, the first freshman class of Madison Central Catholic High School (the temporary name) began lessons ranging from Calculus to Biology in the St. Michael’s school building. The high school building, which was planned to be built on the hilltop of Madison, was not yet built. They had just started raising the money (Class of 1956).

Endless hours of fundraising persisted from 1952 until two years later. From dinners and dances to wrestling matches, fundraisers and donations from the parishes made the new school come alive in those beginning years (Schulte, Class of 1956).