In The Beginning... Catholic Education In The Shakopee Area The ...

Catholic Education
In The Shakopee Area.
Let’s go back in time to see how Catholic
Education came to be in the Shakopee
area. We’ll look at St. Mark’s and St. Mary’s of
Shakopee and St. Mary’s of Marystown. Each
one has their own unique story.
Do you know what the cost was to build a
four room school at St. Mary’s in Shakopee in
1935? Did you know that the first “teacher” at
St. Mary’s of Marystown actually operated a
saloon? Or that all of the classes at St. Mark’s
were taught in German until 1917?
These and other interesting facts will give
you an idea of the character and history of
Catholic Education in the Shakopee Area.
St. Mark’s
The Benedictine Fathers arrived at the parish
of St. Mark’s in Shakopee in 1857. The small
stone church was only a year old and they
immediately set out to construct two 23’ x 26’
framed buildings, one to be used as a rectory
and the other as a school. Since there were no
nuns in Shakopee before 1862, it is believed that
the priests themselves were the first teachers. It
is also believed that all of the students were boys.
Letters in the Archives of St. Benedict in St.
Joseph, MN are explicit that the date of the nun’s
arrival was Oct. 9, 1862. Three young Benedictine
sisters from St. Mary’s in Pennsylvania came to
Shakopee and moved into a converted cow barn.
By 1866 there were 6 nuns, so construction
began on a limestone convent and school that
was built just south of the church. Known as
St. Gertrude’s Convent and Academy, it was to
be a boarding school for young women. Not only
did they accept day students from the surrounding
area, but for a brief time they also taught at the
Public School as well. We can only conclude that
the curriculum was similar to that which was
offered to students at St. Gertrude’s Academy a
few years later:
• Religion or Christian Doctrine
• Arithmetic and Language
• History and Geography
• Spelling and Composition
• Sewing and Mending
There were 30
nuns at St. Mark’s
in 1878 but the
Pastor, feeing
they couldn’t
teach German
properly,
replaced them
with the School
Sisters of Notre
Dame from
Milwaukee, WI.
In January of 1922, a fire
broke out in the kitchen of
the sister’s residence. The sisters could not
reach the phone (which was located in the
burning room) so they rang the school bell,
arousing the neighbors who in turn, called the
fire department. Because the school rooms
adjoined the residence, many were damaged by
smoke and water, so classes were suspended
while repairs were made. A fire insurance policy
of $7,000 was carried on the building and that
1917 — St. Mark’s Graduates
was sufficient for the repairs needed. No sisters
were injured in the commotion, but the sudden
uproar must have been quite a shock to their
orderly life.
By 1940 it was very apparent that a new
school was needed to house the increasing
enrollment. It was built in conjunction with the
parish hall and consisted of 6 classrooms, a
library, washrooms, auditorium and 5 extra
rooms. Part of the old building (built in 1883)
was torn down and the remaining building was
remodeled into additional rooms and a
chapel for the sisters.
According to the
parish census of
1948, 256 children
were enrolled in
St. Mark’s
Parochial school
and were taught
by 7 School
Sisters of Notre
Dame. Construction
in 1954 added more
classrooms, a cafeteria
and kitchen, storage
space and washrooms. Further
construction in 1964 added 9
additional classrooms, office space, washrooms
and storage.
In 1970, St. Mark’s School merged with the
schools of St. Mary’s in Shakopee and St. Mary’s
of the Purification in Marystown to form SACS,
the Shakopee Area Catholic School.