St. Mary Catholic Central High School - History

History

St. Mary Academy - SMA was established when Reverend Louis Florent Gillet and Sister Theresa Maxis Duchemin and two other young religious women arrived in Monroe, Michigan in 1845 to form a new religious congregation - the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On January 15, 1846 - just two months after the IHM arrived and before a church or a residence had even been constructed - St. Mary Academy was founded, beginning what is now the 165 year history of Catholic education in Monroe County. The courage, vision, and perseverance of Fr. Gillet, Mother Theresa Maxis and countless IHMs that followed created one of the best educational institution for young women in the United States.

St. Mary Academy was originally built at what is now the southwest corner of the intersection of Monroe Street and Elm Avenue. With growing enrollment in the 1870s and boarding students from as far away as New York, Nevada, and Montana, the need for a new building prompted the construction of St. Mary Academy I on the banks of the Raisin River in 1881.

Word of the school's success and the great westward migration that was occurring in the United States drove enrollment even higher in succeeding years and the Academy quickly outgrew SMA I. In 1904, the groundbreaking for St. Mary Academy II was held on the site of the present day St. Mary Catholic Central High School campus. The construction was to not only include space for the all girls K-12 school, but also the new St. Mary's College. Shortly after its completion, the Bishop of Detroit asked the Order to move it's collegiate program to the city of Detroit. The Sisters obliged and relocated St. Mary's College to Detroit where it continues today as Marygrove College.

In 1929, a terrible fire broke out in the women's dormitory and destroyed much of the SMA II structure. Undeterred by the tragedy, the Sisters set out to reconstruct the school. Using property they owned just two blocks from the original site they constructed St. Mary Academy III and established a new, larger Motherhouse to care for the growing order of nuns. Built during the heart of the Great Depression, the construction of the 440,000 square foot Academy and adjoining Motherhouse represented one of the largest private construction projects during the time. In the fall of 1932, 340 young ladies in grades 1 through 12 began their studies in their new facility St. Mary Academy grew and flourished from the 1940s through the 1960s.

Enrollment at the Academy peeked in the late 1960s when over 800 young women were enrolled in the high school. In the 40 years since the Great Fire, the IHM had created one of the country's most outstanding educational institutions for women. The Academy combined boarders and day school students in a collegiate atmosphere of teaching and learning. The IHM staffed the school with some of the most educated and well-trained women in the country. The student body exuded camaraderie and spirit. Everyone knew who the "Academy girls" were. Generations of intelligent, empowered women, trained in the social graces of the time, would graduate and enter the world prepared to make their mark.

By the early 1970s, hundreds of new Catholic high schools had opened across the country and most local parishes had added grade schools in response to the demands of educating the generation that would be known as the "Baby Boomers." While the quality of the education at SMA persisted, the demand for the boarding school programs and the Academy grade school began to diminish.

Discussions of creating a co-educational institution with Monroe Catholic Central first surfaced in 1971. Although enrollments at both SMA and MCC sharply declined and costs rose at a significant rate, the strong commitment to the continuation of Catholic secondary institution survived. The dedication by the Sisters and the Monroe Catholic Central Board finally led to merging St. Mary Academy and Monroe Catholic Central to form St. Mary Catholic Central High School in 1986.

Monroe Catholic Central - In 1941, the pastors of Monroe parishes, St. John, St. Joseph, St. Mary, and St. Michael parishes, along with the pastors of St. Joseph in Erie and St. Patrick in Carleton, responded to their parishioners requests and worked together to establish an all-boys Catholic high school in Monroe. Cardinal Mooney, the Archbishop of Detroit, granted permission for the school to be founded provided a religious order could be found to operate the school.

School organizers contacted Fr. Thomas Steiner, CSC, the Provincial of the Congregation of Holy Cross in South Bend, Indiana and a native of Monroe. Fr. Steiner happily agreed to send members of the Congregation's order of Brothers to staff the school. Three members of the Brothers of Holy Cross arrived in 1944 and comprised the entire staff of the original school: Br. Christian Stinnett, Br. Remigius Bullinger, and Br. Gerontius McCarthy. The brothers lived next door to the school on the second floor of what was then the Maurice Funeral Home.

The Diocese purchased six acres located at 108 West Elm Avenue from the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The site was the home of the second St. Mary Academy building, tragically destroyed by fire in 1929. After renovating what remained of the old SMA II structure into a gymnasium and classroom space, Monroe Catholic Central opened on September 18, 1944 with an enrollment of 56 freshmen.

As enrollment increased, additional Brothers of Holy Cross were hired and created a foundation of educational excellence for young men. By September 1950, an addition was completed including a single floor addition with classrooms, science labs, office space, and a new heating plant. The new building was ready for 236 young men. In 1953, work was completed on a second floor, kitchen, cafeteria, and library. As many as 30 Brothers staffed the school at one point. In 1969, enrollment had increased to its peak of 530 students. This growth necessitated several building campaigns: one in 1965 with a two-story, 12 classroom addition; the second in the summer of 1968 with construction of a new gymnasium and locker rooms.

In less than 30 years, the Brothers of Holy Cross created a school with an extraordinary reputation as a disciplined and challenging environment, as well as, a school with a rich tradition of academic and athletic achievement. This reputation was grounded in the legendary faculty who walked its halls. Names like Gerontius, Davenport, Castignola, Smith, Alessandro, Rottenbutcher, Dalton, Lauwers, and Sandersen bring back vivid memories of these larger-than-life figures for MCC alums.

By 1978, the first lay principal was named and at the same time, discussion had begun across the Vicariate exploring the future of Catholic secondary education in Monroe without religious available to staff the schools. The Monroe Catholic Central Board and the Sisters determined the need to share resources, and ultimately moved to create a co-institution between Monroe Catholic Central and St. Mary Academy in 1986.

SMCC - Cultural, social, and demographic changes brought on during the 1960s within the Catholic Church and the United States began to have an effect on the Catholic education system. Enrollments in Catholic schools began to decline as couples had fewer children and urban sprawl across the country reduced former immigrant population centers. In addition, there was a significant decline in the numbers of professed religious who served as the staff in Catholic schools. Lay educators were quickly becoming the majority. Beyond the cultural impact, the cost of employing lay educators substantially increased the tuition at private educational institutions as the Brothers and Sisters had taken little to no pay for their work. With the cost of living increasing and more primary bread-winners staffing schools, the money required to operate a private and parochial schools quickly increased.

Despite these challenges, the IHM Sisters, the Brothers of Holy Cross, and the School Boards of St. Mary Academy and Monroe Catholic Central were determined in their desire to ensure Catholic secondary education in Monroe County. In the spring of 1978, the two schools agreed to establish a co-institution by sharing classes and resources. In June 1985, Sr. Joyce Durosko, IHM was hired as the Chief Executive Officer by the schools to implement a complete integration plan. Cardinal Edmund Szoka ratified the final merger and the by-laws were drafted by a joint board in 1986. The school was named St. Mary Catholic Central High School, now commonly referred to as SMCC.

In 2011, the SMCC community celebrated the 165th anniversary of the founding of St. Mary Academy and the 25th anniversary of the merger of SMA and MCC. In the quarter century since its implementation, the merger had accomplished its primary goal, namely to ensure that a Catholic secondary education continue to remain available to the people of Monroe County and surrounding communities. SMCC exists as a strong, vibrant, and vital part of the Catholic Church in southeast Michigan.

Using funds derived from the Soaring on the Wings of Tradition campaign, SMCC recently renovated its Science labs and main student concourse, added Founders' Hall (which includes the Brothers of Holy Cross conference room and the IHM Activities Center complete with a full service kitchen, and a new Music and Drama Center), created a new Media and Technology Center, and constructed the Chapel of the Infant Jesus of Prague. Enrollment at the school has increased over 10% since 2008 despite the economic recession and significant loss of population in the state of Michigan.