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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL
From
the archives of the Passionist Fathers, located at the Monastery of
St. Michael, Union City, NJ, one read of the vast area tended by
this community in the mid 1800's. They administer and later
organized eleven parishes in what is today Union City, Weehawken,
West New York, Guttenberg, North Bergen, Shadyside, Hoboken, and
Jersey City.
The
generosity of the staunch Catholics and the blessings of God soon
built a church-St. Joseph's of Guttenberg. In 1869, Rev. Eusebius
Sotic, C.P. became the first resident pastor.
There
are no records in the parish or in the diocesan office about the
work of the Franciscan Sisters until 1880 when it tells that a
convent-school was built and the Sisters began to teach. In the
archives of the Motherhouse of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of
the Sacred Heart, however, it mentions that Father Eusebius asked
for and received three Sisters in 1873.
By
1876, four Sisters were teaching at St. Joseph's School in
Guttenberg and Sister M. Clare just released from the position as
director of Our Lady of Angels Academy, Peekskill, which she had
helped establish, was appointed superior and principal. With the
building of a comfortable frame residence for the Sisters on Sixth
St. in 1899, the convent-school in Guttenberg was used as a school
and here the Sisters taught until 1903.
Realizing that a larger church was needed to accommodate the
ever-growing population, it was decided to move the parish center to
where the people were within the confines of West New York.
Property was purchased on Palisade Avenue where a large church,
with a basement auditorium and an adjoining rectory was built.
Since
larger facilities were needed for the school due to the increasing
enrollment, part of the basement of the new church was used for this
purpose. And here, for the next seven years many children of the
parish received their education. The Sisters' convent was moved
from Guttenberg to its present position on Palisade Avenue. A three
story brick building was built on old 20th St. now 64th St., for a
school which opened in 1910 with six classrooms. Sister M. Alberta was
named superior and principal. By 1912, two more classrooms were added,
making eight in all.
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