Search
-
Our History
The first Visitation grade school was erected on First Street between Park Street and Lexington Avenue during Fr. Duffy’s pastorate. In 1895, Visitation School opened under the guidance of four Sisters of St. Dominic from Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. The sisters occupied a part of the building as their convent, with living quarters in back and classrooms in front. In 1905, the building was enlarged and the sisters were housed in a rented dwelling next to the school, which later served as a home for the parish janitor.In 1908, the sisters moved into the convent at the corner of Central Blvd. And Lexington Ave. which had first served as a rectory. Later, a smaller house referred to as the “annex” by the sisters, was moved in and attached to the original building, in order to accommodate 10 sisters.In 1913, the building of a new Visitation School was begun. The new school was eventually completed, and was first occupied for school purpose in the spring of 1922, at a cost of $70,000. In September 1923 Visitation High School opened in the old building. Then in 1928, the high school moved into the new building, which it occupied until the end of the 1931 - 32 school year when high school was discontinued. The high school was a casualty of the Depression, though on the scholastic side, its brief career of nine years had achieved success, for it had received accreditation from the University of Illinois.In 1932, the grades moved back into the new building and the old building was vacant for a short time, and later became a cafeteria. In the summer of 1953, construction began on the new convent which serves today as the rectory and parish center offices.By the late 1980’s, school officials knew the old three-story school building on Lexington Avenue couldn’t be used much longer. The final blow was asbestos. It would cost more than the school building was worth to remove all of it and come up to state code. In 1988, fundraising began. School was let out about a month early in the spring of 1989, and resumed a month late in the fall. In the interi m, the old building was completely demolished and the present-day school erected. This interim also marked the last of the Sinsinawa Dominican sisters reign at Visitation Catholic School.Visitation celebrated its centennial in 1995, under the theme, “Pride in the past with vision for the future.”