Development of Ursuline Academy in St. Louis

1850 

A larger school building was needed, and the school at 12^th and Russell Streets was built.  Today this property is the site of St. Joseph’s Croatian Church.

1914 

As the new century dawned, the building on 12^th Street was in need of repairs and no longer adequate for the kind of education the Sisters wanted to offer.  Toward the close of 1914, a beautifully wooded 28-acre tract with an old colonial-style mansion was offered for sale in Oakland.  The Sisters purchased the property, and in the spring of 1915 the mansion was furnished and arranged as a school and the Sisters’ quarters.  A high school was opened there in September 1915.

1925 

Ground was broken for a new convent and academy.  By August 1926, the present brick structure facing the pond, now known as Merici Hall, was ready for occupancy

1960 

A west building, now known as Brescia Hall, was added. This offered additional classroom space and a new gymnasium.

1988 

The old mansion, which had previously been torn down, was replaced with a new residence for the Ursuline Sisters, where they lived until the summer of 2005.  This made possible the Academy’s expansion into what had been the convent facilities.

Ursuline was recognized by the United States Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.

2005

The Convocation and Athletic Center opened, offering a new gymnasium, athletic training facilities, larger locker rooms, coaching offices, classroom space, concession stand and a large lobby, later named O’Hara Hall, which is used for special events and student community space. The new facility was officially named O’Hara Hall after a past Ursuline President of the Academy, Sr. Madonna O’Hara, O.S.U., who left office in 2006.