P
eoria’s Catholic
community celebrated
150
years of high school
education in 2013. The pride and
tradition established through
years has been passed down for
four or five generations now.
Even if you went to Spalding
Institute, the Academy of Our
Lady, Bergan High School or
Peoria Notre Dame, graduates
feel the sense of unity of being
fortunate enough to have had the
academic opportunities of private
education, the network of life-
long unshakable friendships, and
religious instruction that shaped
one’s inner peace and morality.
April 19, 1863: Father Abram
Ryan, pastor of St. Mary’s
Church, escorts seven Sisters
of the Order of St. Joseph of
Carondelet in St. Louis, to Peoria
to establish a Catholic school for
girls.
Traveling with them was
Matthew Henebery, a prominent
Peoria whiskey distiller who
funded the new school with
11
other men who earned the
nickname “the Loyal Sons.”
Mother Mary Teresa became
the first superior. She supervised
the purchase of a two-room
frame house on Jefferson Street
between Hancock and Bryan.
April 1864: The school was
moved to a larger house at 205
N. Madison between Fayette and
Hamilton.
September 1870: A large
Parisian-style boarding school
that could house 100 girls and 16
sisters was built at the corner of
Madison and Bryan.
The four-story building cost
$35,000. Both Catholic and non-
Catholic girls from the very finest
families in Peoria attended with
tuition being $15.00 a month.
January 1874: The official name
of the girl’s school became “The
Academy of Our Lady of the
Sacred Heart.”
10
thePeorian.com
PEORIA’S CATHOLIC
HIGH SCHOOLS:
150
years of Memories and Tradition
By Dr. Peter Couri
The Past
The former Bergen High School, now Peoria Notre Dame, circa 1963.
