history

On January 3, 1927, Our Lady of the Holy Souls School opened in the mission church at Tyler and "I" Streets with four grades and two teachers, Sister M Ursula Straessle and Sister M Gabriel Koechner, Olivetan Benedictine Sisters from Jonesboro. Forty students were registered the first year. The first two grades were taught in the small sacristy, the other grades in the main part of the church. The church was divided lengthwise through the center with an old army curtain to make two classrooms. For four and a half years school was taught in the church. Six students made their First Communion May 1, 1927. The school had eight grades in 1944 with its first kindergarten. That same year the pastor, Monsignor Francis A. Allen, added three additional classrooms with cloakrooms, library, kitchen, office and an auditorium that served as the cafeteria. In 1946 Monsignor Allen presented diplomas to the first eighth grade graduates.

History