St. Joseph's School
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The Silesian (a region now in Poland) settlers, who established St. Stanislaus Parish in 1855, had a vision of one day having a school to provide educational opportunities for their children. The first school erected in 1882, was a two-room frame building. This school at one time served as a public school (1895). A third room was added later on as the enrollment grew. By 1920, the newly organized council of the Knights of Columbus, needed a meeting hall. They began to envision a two-story, native limestone, building with a Knights of Columbus meeting room on top and schoolrooms on the bottom. The building was begun on May 1, 1922 and was completed in May of 1924 and named St. Joseph's Catholic School. Classes in the new building began in the fall of 1924 for grade school and two years of high school. In 1929, the high school was discontinued while the lower grades (grammar school) were taught until June 1968, when the school was closed due to the high cost of educating the 100 students. This building still attends the children’s needs housing Religious Education Classes, and its beautiful hall serves parishioners as a meeting room and social center. |
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The 1982 St. Joseph's School Renovation
When St. Joseph's School closed in 1968, the building was used to teach Catholic Doctrine to the parish children. Since the building lacked modern heating, the old classrooms were outdated, the kitchen on the upper floor was inconvenient, and the building was too good to waste, something had to be done to bring it up-to-date to make it more viable. Early in 1982, plans were made to make the building more suitable for parish needs. Five well-insulated classrooms and a library were created on the upper floor. On the lower floor, well insulated partitions made four rooms out of two, south of the hallway. New glass was put into all of the windows. This work and most of the painting, was done by ladies of the parish. Air-ducts and a heating unit were installed upstairs and down. The renovation of the School was finished just before Christmas in 1982. This is a great example of the determination, cooperation, and hard work of these volunteers that revived a historic building to make it useful in serving the need of a changing parish. |
The 2014 St. Joseph's School Renovation
With the arrival of Fr. John Nolan, the St. Joseph's Hall went through a smaller yet needed second renovation with the removal of old interior stucco, refurbished floors, new carpets, lighting, blinds and paint. The exterior was power washed, repaired and re-pointed. New tables and chairs were purchased for the main hall and smaller table and chairs were purchased for our younger students in the classrooms.
New display cabinets were hand made by a parishioner to display artifacts and photos from the old church museum. These artifacts were meticulously cleaned, framed and put on display in the hall and gathering room for all parishioners and guests to enjoy.
With the arrival of Fr. John Nolan, the St. Joseph's Hall went through a smaller yet needed second renovation with the removal of old interior stucco, refurbished floors, new carpets, lighting, blinds and paint. The exterior was power washed, repaired and re-pointed. New tables and chairs were purchased for the main hall and smaller table and chairs were purchased for our younger students in the classrooms.
New display cabinets were hand made by a parishioner to display artifacts and photos from the old church museum. These artifacts were meticulously cleaned, framed and put on display in the hall and gathering room for all parishioners and guests to enjoy.
