SAINT FRANCIS SEMINARY
Located in Mount Healthy it was, as stated
on several of the cards, a preparatory seminary for boys and young men
aspiring to the priesthood in the Franciscan Order.
Due to the growing German Catholic population in Cincinnati,
Priests were needed to tend to their religious needs. A four year high school
seminary course for boys was opened in 1858 in downtown Cincinnati at Liberty
and Vine. In 1924, the St. Francis Seminary moved to 127 acres north of Mt.
Healthy. The seminary was closed in 1980.
Of the 4,500 graduates, 650 became priests, 20 became professed
brothers, and 6 became bishops.
Mural paintings in the main lobby
Six cards of the chapel
MT. NOTRE DAME ACADEMY
Mount Notre Dame began in 1860 as a boarding school for girls. It soon became well-known for its excellence in education (the two daughters of Civil War general William T. Sherman were students). Boys were admitted in 1929. After the boarding school closed in 1935, the school flourished and expanded as an academy for all grades from kindergarten through high school. In 1956, upon the request of the archdiocese of Cincinnati, Mount Notre Dame Academy became a diocesan high school. Its name was changed to Mount Notre Dame High School. Experiencing rapid growth the school moved to its present location (711 East Columbia Ave.) in 1965.
As can be seen in the 2nd present day photograph the original main entrance to the academy has been closed off. The original gate has obviously been replaced and this one has been locked up. This entrance is at the east end of Vine street in Reading and can be seen in the overhead image above on the left hand edge about 1/4 of the way down.
About the only structure remaining from the original layout is the Grotto. It can be seen in the last overhead image above.
The grounds
St. Anthony's Lawn
Tennis
Court
Chapel
Church & Grotto
Gymnasium
North Wing
Maple Avenue
Scene in Woods
Northern
Descent
Guardian
Angel
SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME CONVENT
The Sisters of Notre Dame opened the first Montessori school in 1925 at 2161 Grandin Road, in Reading, where Summit Day School is now located. It was refered to as the "Alpha School."
Convent of Sisters of Notre Dame
6th near Broadway
THE
ATHENAEUM OF OHIO
SAINT GREGORY SEMINARY
MT. ST. MARY'S SEMINARY OF THE WEST
Church leaders quickly discovered that it was very
practical to establish both a seminary to train and ordain Catholic priests
while, at the same time, providing a college for higher education to a
community. Priests were required for the seminary and professors were needed for
the college. The college students tuition would help support the needs of the
seminary while the seminarians could use part of the day teaching the college
students.
The Athenaeum of Ohio's seminary division -Mount Saint Mary's of
the West was founded in 1829 by Bishop Edward Fenwick and is the 3rd oldest
Catholic seminary in the United States and is the oldest west of the Appalachian
Mountains. The Seminary was called St.
Francis Xavier Seminary at the beginning. It quickly became apparent that the fledgling seminary
located downtown
and the small church that housed the bishops residence was inadequate to serve
the flood of newcomers. A new seminary and college buildings were built and
opened in 1832 on Sycamore St.
Fenwick's successor, Bishop John Baptist Purcell recruited Jesuits
to provide a more professional teaching staff. In 1840 the Jesuits assumed
control of the college and renamed it St. Francis Xavier College, a strictly lay
college. (see the College section on the Education Page for cards of this
institution.)
The seminary, now separated from the college, moved 60 miles east of
Cincinnati to St. Martin's in Brown County in 1839. The seminary became unstable
due to the loss of the Vincentian priests who had been operating it. The
seminarians moved back to Cincinnati in 1845, first to the college and then to
the attic of the bishop's residence at the newly built Cathedral of St. Peter in
Chains.
Thanks to a gift of 5 acres of land on Price Hill and $22,000 from
two businessmen, one of which was Reuben Springer, Bishop Purcell was able to
build a new seminary building in 1851. With this move the seminary's name was
changed to Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West, named after Purcell's alma
mater at Emmittsburg, Maryland. This site is located at Warsaw
and Grand Avenues.
In 1879, due to financial difficulties, the seminary was closed for
8 years. When it finally reopened it became apparent that a change was going to
have to be made. The new inclines had allowed Cincinnatians to move to the
suburbs and the area around the seminary was being crowded by new housing and
the serene quality of the area was lost.
In 1890 it was decided not to reestablish a preparatory college
seminary with the graduate school, so a separate college seminary-St. Gregory's
Seminary-was opened in Mount Washington. Located at 6616 Beechmont Ave. on 76
acres in Mt. Washington the original structure, seen on the left in the first
card was built in 1891-1895.
In 1904 everybody moved again. Archbishop
Henry Moeller decided to transfer the seminary from Price Hill to the Mount
Washington buildings of St. Gregory. He ordered those students to move into the
city near the Cathedral.
When Archbishop Moeller died in 1925 Archbishop John Timothy
McNicholas was appointed to lead the archdiocese. He decided to unify all the
educational work in the diocese. This organization was incorporated as The
Athenaeum of Ohio in 1928. The Athenaeum was chartered to grant degrees for
Mount Saint Mary's of the West, St. Gregory, a teachers college and a graduate
school of science. The newer part of the Athenaeum
seen in the other cards was constructed in 1929 at a cost exceeding $1 million.
When Archbishop McNicholas died in 1950 the teachers college disbanded and the
graduate school of science severed ties with the Athenaeum of Ohio which
occurred under the new archbishop Karl J Alter. Only the two seminaries
remained, St. Gregory and Mount St. Mary's of the West.
From 1955 to 1963 more than $5 million was spent in building expansion and
reconstruction required after a 1956 fire that gutted the south wing of the
building.
Due to declining enrollment, in 1980, St. Gregory's college
seminary was closed and Mount St. Mary's of the west returned to this facility
in Mt. Washington in 1981 with only 70 seminarians. By 1998 only 27 seminarians
were enrolled at Mount St. Mary's of the West.
Overhead View Before
Fire
Overhead View Present Day
The first four cards above show Saint Gregory Seminary before the 1956 fire that gutted the southern wing and the 5th present day overhead photograph shows the changes and additions to the seminary after the fire. Compare the two overhead images. The Seminary is located in Mt. Washington at 6616 Beechmont Avenue. The postcard below shows the seminary after the seminary had been rebuilt after the fire. Remember this building later became Mount St. Mary's of the West in 1981.
After Mount Saint Mary's of the West moved out of the Norwood buildings in the postcard below to the Mt. Washington buildings above in 1981, the Norwood building was sold. Located at 5440 Moeller Ave. it is now Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center which was opened in 1992. The church you see in the first two images below is of the Holy Trinity Church. The last two images are present day photographs.
Mount Saint
Mary's
Our Lady of the Holy Spirit
Center
Today the Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount Saint
Mary's continues to educate men for the Catholic priesthood as well as educating
lay graduate students. The number of seminarians appear to be increasing with 36
seminarians in residence in 2011.
Archbishop Moeller sold the Price Hill building to the
Sisters of Good Shepherd in 1904 for use as a training school for girls.
(Archbishop Moeller's story continues on the first page of this section with Archbishop Moeller's
residence).
MT. ST. MARY'S TRAINING SCHOOL FOR GIRLS,
CONVENT OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD,
The Convent of the Good Shepherd was the home and training school for girls and also the Provincial House of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. The St. Mary's Training school educated children, ages 4 to 18, who were brought in by their parents or sent by the Catholic charities. Many were "problem" girls sent by the juvenile court. The bulk of their income came from the operation of workshops-laundries, sewing rooms where shirts were produced, and knitting rooms. Complaints were received, and confirmed, of long hours and mis-treatment. The archdiocese intervened in several instances to improve conditions in the workshops. The total capacity of the home was 450 girls, of which two-thirds were African American. In June 1949 the school merged with Girls' Town, another temporary shelter for "problem" girls. That facility, seen in the 3rd row below, on North Bend Road in Finneytown was remodeled to accommodate the 112 girls that both agencies were then serving. The Price Hill school remained open until 1959. The building was razed in 1962.
Convent of the Good Shepherd
Mount Saint Mary's School for Girls
Although St. Mary's was razed in 1962 the entrance was kept intact and is still standing. You can see it in the 2nd photographic image, it still looks the same as in the 1st postcard. It is located where Warsaw and Hawthorne Aves. meet.
Orchestra
May Pole
Girls' Town
SAINT CLARE CONVENT
Provincial House and Novitiate of the Sisters of the Poor of Saint Francis.
Grotto
Chapel
The Saint Clare Convent was built in 1964 on Sarnac Avenue in College Hill. The present St. Clare Church is located at 1445 Cedar Avenue with a congregation of around 800 families.
Monastery of the Holy Name
3020 Erie Ave.
The Cloistered Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Adoration dedicate their lives to God's Glory through the Solemn recitation of the Divine Office and the observance of the Solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
BETHANY HOME
Bethany Home, located at 555 Albion Ave.
south of Oak Street in Glendale, was the mother house and convent of the
Community of the Transfiguration for girls. This was a religious order for the women of
the Episcopal Church that began in 1898. It was originally started as a
"fresh air camp" for families who needed relief from the smoky and hot
conditions that existed in the city. At the end of the first summer there were
several children (mostly babies) who could not be taken back to the terrible
conditions in the city. Another house was rented next door for these children so
they could be properly taken care of. They permanently moved to this home and
called it Bethany Home. The first year there were 5 babies, by 1900 there were
24 children in the home. That year it was decided to close the nursery and not
take in any children under 2 years old because the person that had been taking
care of them moved away.
It was then decided to open a school for these children and so two
school rooms were added on to the home. In 1901 a new building was attached to
the home to house the children, lay helpers and Sisters. The original chapel at
the home had been the old ballroom in the home that had been converted for that
purpose. In 1905 it had been enlarged but was still inadequate as there were, at
this time, 62 children in the home. A fund was started and by 1927 enough money
had been collected to start building a new chapel. It was completed and
dedicated on June 11, 1929. In the early 20s there were major changes being
made. 3 dormitory buildings, the rectory and infirmary buildings were all
completed by Dec. 1927. It was now called Bethany Home Village.
Eventually a refectory with music rooms and a library, a children's
store and a new well-equipped school house were built. A new dormitory for the
older girls was also constructed. For many years the home had its own high
school but by 1943 it was decided the girls would be better off if they started
to attend a regular high school so they began to go to Glendale High School.
From 1906 to 1926 a Home for Boys was operated in conjunction with
the Home for Girls, first on the same property and later on a nearby farm. It
eventually became St. Edmund's Home, and later became St. Edward's Camp which
closed in 1995.
In 1958 Bethany Home became Bethany School and began to admit day
students (both boys and girls). Eventually many of the buildings were converted
into school rooms and finally all boarding of children ceased. There have been
many alterations over the years and today there are 265 students enrolled at the
school.
Name is misspelled.
School
Chapel
Community of the Transfiguration 495 Albion Ave.
INSTITUTUM DIVI THOMAE
Administration
Bldg.
McNicholas
Hall
Rookwood Pottery Bldg.
The Institutum Divi Thomae
was established in 1935 by the Archbishop of Cincinnati, the Most Reverend John
T. McNicholas. For the first 6 years of its existence the Institutum Divi Thomae
was housed in the St. Gregory Seminary on Beechmont Avenue. In 1941 they moved
into the mansion in East Walnut Hills at 1840-42 Madison Road seen in the 1st
card. This building was next to McNicholas Hall (2nd card) and other campus buildings. The
IDT was a nationally known center of Scientific research. The faculty consisted
of full-time research professors and lecturers in specialized fields. Its
student body never had more than 30 students. They were chosen by competitive
examinations from candidates showing special promise as creative scientists.
Much of the schools income came from donations, consulting fees for services
rendered by staff members, and from earnings made from commercially useful
discoveries. The school's primary purpose was to train and develop outstanding
research workers. Their main area of research was in the search for a cure for
cancer.
The 3rd card above shows the IDT using the Rookwood building
for their labs after the pottery company had closed its doors.
SAINT JOHN CONVENT
31 East Ninth
SAINT WILLIAM CONVENT
Tuscan Villa
FOR MORE RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS
