HISTORY OF HOLY FAMILY
SCHOOL

Provided by John Venneman

By Father Bauer—“date unknown”

 
In between the tenure of two great St. Louis Catholic church­men, Archbishop Peter Kenrick (1843-1895) and Cardinal John Glennon (1903-1946) were the beginnings of our Holy Family School. To be exact it came during the short term of Arch­bishop John Kain, formerly the bishop of Wheeling, later the first American born bishop of St. Louis.

During Kain's period in St. Louis, controversy seemingly became more the norm than the exception. Having been unwelcomed by his aged predecessor, Kenrick, Kain was forced to take him to court to gain legal possession of the ecclesiastical authority. Earlier, while in Wheeling, Kain had strongly supported the Irish led ¹Americanizers' movement which in effect lessoned the force of German involvement in the immigrant church. Kain in St. Louis found himself in charge of the most politically active German community in America.

Amid such confusion, however, Kain solidified one area in particular - Catholic education. In 1896, he called an Archdiocesan Synod that insisted that every pastor establish a parochial school within two years. Two years later in 1898 out of this milieu Holy Family Parish and School were established.

Our parish was laid out to support the faith needs of Germans slowly moving southwest from the core of other established parishes such as Sts. Peter and Paul (1849) and St. Francis DeSales (1867). The first pastor, Father John Reuther, pre­viously of St. Monica's Church in Creve Coeur, came to a new area of 173 Germans and many more that were unknown and un­registered. With the help of the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul, Father Francis Goller, a strong advocate of Catholic schools. Reuther was able to begin Holy Family Parish.

Reuther officially took up residence at 4166 Wyoming Street, a half block west of the present school. From the sight which still stands, complete parish operations were held. On January 12, 1899 Holy Family School began in rooms which doubled as a parish chapel.

Initially in 1899 the task of educating the youth was done by a small group of Sisters of Notre Dame who commuted daily from the motherhouse on Ripa Avenue. Shortly after, in 1900, the congregation of the Most Precious Blood and Sr. Aloysia, the first school superior, assumed charge of the parish school.

The Precious Blood Sisters of 0'Fallon, Mo., have left a legacy of service to our parish ever since. In 1903, a third room was added to the 4166 address, followed soon by a fourth as the pastor was forced to vacate to make room for additional children as well as quarters for the board­ing sisters.

With the natural influx of parishioners out to this new 'hinterland¹, Holy Family School grew from 129 to nearly 300 within a decade. The need for adequate space was met with the erection of a new school and auditorium on Humphrey Street (present sight of Bremerich Center) in 1912. In that year of transition 317 children are noted as attending our school. By 1921, eight sisters were teaching in the second school and the first school society to support parish school funding had been created.

In 1926, Father William Huelsman, a scholarly and deeply liturgical priest, took the reigns of the pastorate following the death of Father Reuther. Huelsman continued the con­struction plans of the church adding his own touch to the building designs and style of worship at the present ediface.

By 1940, on the edge of the second World War, Holy Family School made another move back to Wyoming Street, now 4130, a couple hundred feet east of the first address. The present address is on a sight used during the 1920's and 30's as tennis courts.

Often stories continue that the new school was con­structed because of a devastating fire to the Humphrey address. After examination, such a fire though actual was very minor. The real reason for relocation was that the old school was in severe need of repair and plans for transfer had been active before the small afternoon fire.

Out of the move to the third school came a story of a unique form of purchasing school desks. If a student desired to have a new desk in the new school, he/she was asked to present to the presiding teacher, newspaper which was then weighed and recorded in the student's favor.  After the student presented a ton of paper, he/she was presented with a new desk. It is remembered by a retired sister that children brought paper to school through­out the years of World War II as paper received a high exchange price.

Another story has often been told that during those war years Father Huelsman, a man who had German love for order, would end the school day with children literally marching out of school to recorded band music till they reached the end of the block. Complaints began to arrive at the Catholic School Office saying that such marching was too similar to that of the Hitler Youth Corp in Germany. As one can obviously imag­ine, the marching drill quickly ceased.

Throughout its years of operation, Holy Family has been justly-known as an excellent school. With the numbers ever increas­ing, space for recreation was limited to a very small yard, and a treacherous alley. Often children were taken to play at McDonald Park on Bent and Utah Streets. By 1948, the 50th Anniversary of the parish, buildings abounded on the limited grounds and 614 children were in attendance at the school.

In January 1946, a group of women under the direction of Father Joseph Bremerich, the replacement for the deceased Father Huelsman, formed the Parent-Teacher Association. Soon this group was opened to men of the parish. This association provided a hot lunch for the children and helped fund a large library on the third floor.

In the 1950's with enrollment reaching out to an all time high of 627, the baby boom resulting from the war years was in effect. However, a dramatic and unexpected shakeup in Catho­lic education was on the horizon about to explode on the Amer­ican scene. With the increasing cost of education it became apparent that the goal of "EVERY CATHOLIC CHILD IN A CATHOLIC SCHOOL" was seemingly unattainable. With the sharp decrease of religious vocations, salaries for a lay Catholic staff were needed.

While Catholics still considered their schools superior, free public education was becoming an attractive alternative. Throughout the late 1960's and mid 70's during the pastorates of Father Art Leibinger (1969-1979) and Father Lawrence Nibberich enrollments stablized in the lower grades, and a new voice of hope could be heard in Catholic school circles. Inspired by Vatican Council II lay teachers became more confident of their particular charism as Catholic educa­tors .

Within the past five years under the able direction of our principal, Sister Madelene Reiners, we have seen an expansion of the school to the recent high enrollment of 430. With the "rebirthing" of previously old neighborhoods, Sister Madelene has guided the school into a new era. With four new classrooms, the close cooperation with the pre-school program under Mrs. Maureen Thenhaus, the restoration of a regular music program, and available computer education for every class - our school has blossomed under her careful tute­lage .

In 1982, our present pastor. Father Paul Zipfel, arrived from a previous assignment at Holy Cross in Baden. A former admin­istrator at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Father Zipfel immediately began needed physical improvements to the forty year old structure. The renovation of the school cafeteria by dedicated parish volunteers was completed this past summer. The recent past has also witnessed the creation of a parish school board.

All of this points to a wonderful future, one that demands real involvement and communication from all parish members. With the talent and generous sharing of so many, we can be justly sure that Holy Family School will continue the wonderful tradition of involvement to our neighborhood as well as the Church in St. Louis.

-Father Bauer