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In October
1998 a concerned group of citizens formed an action group called
"The Friends of Old St. Mary's Girls School (1909)"
with the dual goals of raising public awareness and preventing the
demolition of the historic St. Mary's Girls School which had stood
abandoned at the edge of the Mission District in Calgary for the
past five years.
Through the
persistence of this citizens action group, which has since changed
its official title to the "Society for the Preservation and
Restoration of St. Mary's School (1909)" the landmark has been
identified as a potential candidate for designation as a Provincial
Historic Resource. The Society has worked diligently to not
only educate the public on the importance of preserving such sites
for the benefit of all Albertans, but to develop partnerships
between their society, the community, the Calgary Roman Catholic
Separate School District No. 1, the City of Calgary, the Provincial
Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada.
Although the
school itself was erected in 1909, its true origin was derived from
the arrival of the Sisters, Faithful Companions of Jesus in 1885.
Founded in Amiens, France in 1820, the Sisters believed themselves
to be companions of Jesus whose purpose was to create institutes not
only for the education of children, but places of retreat for all
people.
In 1885 four
Sisters arrived in Calgary where Father Albert Lacombe offered them
his newly built mission and surrounding lands on St. Mary Street
(now 19 Avenue S.W., Calgary), in what was then known as the French
village of Rouleauville. By the time that Alberta became a
province in 1905, St. Mary's School had become the first to offer a
complete Catholic high school education supported by public funds.
The building
itself functioned as a school until 1979 when it was converted into
a Catholic Pastoral Centre and Daycare until it's eventual
abandonment in 1995.
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