Catholic Academy School #2
St. Mary’s School holds a prominent role in Southern Oregon today, but it traces its beginning to 1865 Jacksonville when Rev. Francis Xavier Blanchet, priest of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, asked the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary to open a school in town. Blanchet collected money and used it to purchase the block bounded by North 5th and 6th and East D and E streets. He spent $642.50 for the property with its two buildings and $1,400 for a piano, leaving less than $100 for furniture.
When Sister Mary of the Seven Dolores, Sister Mary Febronia, and Sister Mary Zotique arrived from their convent in Montreal, they found their new home had a piano, six chairs, and a table. They spent their first night on the floor on mattresses loaned by neighbors.
The Sisters opened St. Mary’s Academy in the original portion of what is still known as the Catholic Academy building at the corner of 5th and D. They divided the 16-foot by 58-foot one-story structure into five rooms which were used as chapel, parlor, community room, refectory, and classrooms. The house on the adjoining lot became a dormitory for boarders. The school opened on September 11, 1865, with one boarding student; by the end of the school year there were 12 boarders and 33 day students.
The Sisters gained community support when a smallpox epidemic struck in August 1868. For two months, two of the Sisters visited the homes of the “plague-stricken” day and night, tending to their needs. When the number of cases subsided in April, convalescing patients were taken to the local hospital. The exhausted nuns found consolation in having baptized a number of patients. They also earned the respect of local residents.