History of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton, 1888-2012

In 2012, after 124 years, the Congregation of St. Joseph announced that the 11 remaining Sisters of St. Joseph would leave the Tipton facility. Senior residents moved out that year, and the St. Joseph Center ceased hosting groups by December 31, 2012.

The property was purchased by the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana in 2016 and became the Saint Joseph Retreat & Conference Center, opening September 26, 2017.

Read on to learn more about the history of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton.

Sister Gertrude Moffitt was received into the community of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cleveland, Ohio in 1879. When she received a letter from Father Lentz of Tipton, Indiana inviting her to come and establish a school in his parish, she was ready to go. With the help of the Superior of Watertown, New York, Sister Gertrude and two young novices, Sister Josephine Hynes, a friend of Sister Gertrude, and Sister Theresa Thistlewaite, a young girl from Sheridan, left for Tipton. Upon arrival, Sister Gertrude laid the foundations for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton on March 15, 1888.

The Sisters endured many hardships in Tipton. The school was small, the parish was poor, and the Sisters didn’t have much income. They did fancy work and pieced quilts to provide extra money to supplement their parish stipend.

1889: The Sisters opened St. Francis School in Kokomo.
1890: There were two Sisters that taught sixty pupils at St. Joseph's Academy in Tipton during their first year.
1891: The St. Joseph Community in Tipton numbered less than a dozen Sisters.
1892: The first class of students graduated from St. Joseph Academy

Eventually, the Sisters moved from a small cottage to a brick building across from St. John’s in Tipton. This building was financed by Mother Gertrude’s father, a gold miner.

In 1900 the Sisters of St. Joseph, with the help of Father Anthony Kroeger, purchased a 200 acre farm north of Tipton. Originally, the St. Joseph Academy was to be built facing SR 19. But on August 6, 1902, 80 acres was purchased from Mr. and Mrs. Carson and groundwork began immediately to build the Academy there. A sawmill was moved into the woods and workers felled the large oak trees and sawed them into the desired materials. The lumbers was hauled into the Fraulich Lumber Mills in Tipton to be seasoned and dressed. In the spring, the lumber was hauled back to the building site and on evening in 1903, Fr. Kroeger, Sister Magdalene, Sister Baptista and Architect Mr. De Curtady drove the four stakes to mark the site for the Academy.

The St. Joseph Academy was formally opened in September 1904 and blessed November 15, 1904. This boarding school educated girls from all over the United States and Central America.

A Bungalow style house, now called the Nazareth House, was built in 1908  and functioned as the St. Mary’s Boys Academy. From 1908 to 1922, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton ran the St. Mary’s School for Boys grade school. The current Nazareth Bungalow was built in 1908 to accommodate a limited number of boys in grades one to eight. The Sisters opened the school in response to requests from St. Joseph Academy parents applying for a boys’ boarding school. Soon, the bungalow was filled, so the older boys remained there and the younger boys were housed in the west side of the Convent.  By 1915, enrollment had increased to 40 boys and a large classroom room was added to the east side of the convent.

St. Mary's School for Boys Booklet 1915-16

Classes for boys were offered to meet state requirements in addition to art, music (piano, violin and voice), and penmanship.

In 1910 the St. Joseph Convent was built adjacent to the Academy. In 1912 the Sisters moved out of their residence in the St. Joseph Academy and into the newly constructed St. Joseph Convent in 1912. This allowed more classroom space in the St. Joseph Academy.

For many years, teaching and nursing were the two ministries of the community. They served the poor and needy in their first hospital, Good Samaritan in Kokomo, Indiana. In February, 1913 the Sisters were able to purchase the Bates Homestead in Kokomo as the site for the proposed new hospital and on November 15, 1914 the new Good Samaritan Hospital was formally opened for occupancy. In 1916 a school of Nursing was founded there so that the hospital staff might better meet the needs of the patients with competent nursing service.

In addition, many of the Sisters cared for the sick in their homes. Their next hospital grew from a seed planted in 1908 when Oregon’s Father Luke Sheehan met Tipton Founder Mother Gertrude on a ship bound from Ireland. Before her death in 1916, Mother Gertrude promised to send Sisters to Bend, Oregon. The next Tipton leader, Mother Xavier fulfilled that promise and St. Charles Hospital opened in January of 1918.

St. Mary's School for Boys Student Tuition 1918-19 

The Congregation felt it was necessary to close the St. Mary's School for Boys in the Spring of 1922. The bungalow became the home for the resident chaplain.

The local parish priest asked the Sisters to build a Catholic Hospital in Elwood, IN. With the support of the parish, town and county, Mercy Hospital of Elwood was constructed and dedicated on November 14, 1925.

In 1932, St. Katharine Hall was built to house the gym, auditorium, and home economics department. In 1958, St. Joseph Junior College was established in renovated parts of the Convent.

1936: On May 17, 1936, St. Joseph Memorial Hospital in Kokomo was officially opened and blessed by Bishop Noll.

Summer Term Ended Friday (Tipton Daily Tribune, August 15, 1936)

Pope Pius XII established the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana on October 21, 1944. (Previously, this area of Indiana was served by The Diocese of Fort Wayne, established in 1857.)  On November 11, 1944, the Holy See made the announcement regarding the partitioning of the Fort Wayne Diocese creating the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana. 

St. Joseph Academy, May 31, 1944

In the early 1950s, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton, there were 125 professed Sisters, fourteen Sisters with temporary vows and eleven novices.

During the 1950s numerous Catholic elementary and high schools were opened including 15 parochial schools, two high schools and one academy, all located in the dioceses of Fort Wayne and the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana.

In addition, the Sisters maintained three hospitals, a training school for nurses and a convalescent home for women. In addition to caring for our parochial schools, some of the missions included sending Sisters out every Saturday to small neighboring cities having no Catholic school to teach Religion and prepare First Holy Communion classes.

In 1958 the St. Joseph Junior College was established and was housed in the renovated parts of the Convent for the purpose of educating the postulants and novices. A new Motherhouse was also erected to house Academy boarders, teachers, Sisters of St. Joseph Administration, and retired Sisters. It included a 15-bed infirmary.

1961 SJA Student Booklet

Following the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) , the community expanded their ministry beyond education and nursing to include counseling, hospital administration, pastoral care, pastoral ministries, evangelization, business, CCD directors, spiritual directors, music, calligraphy, pottery and community administration.

During the 1960s the Tipton Congregation participated in the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and later met regularly with the Heartland Region comprised of Congregations in the center of the US.

As a result of Sisters moving into different ministries and the exodus of many young Sisters, the Congregation withdrew the Sisters from teaching in many small Catholic schools. In 1972 both St. Joseph Junior College and St. Joseph Academy were closed.

St. Joseph Academy will be closed, December 20, 1971

In 1978, both the Academy and Convent buildings were razed. The Migrant Day Care used St. Katharine Hall from 1972 to 1991.

After the Academy closed in 1972, it became necessary to find a use for all the unoccupied rooms of the Motherhouse. The Sisters hosted wedding parties, small retreat groups and meetings of other religious orders. In 1978, the community voted to accept Co-Members into the Order. These Christian men and women share in the prayer life, help in ministries of the Order, and enjoy companionship with the Sisters.

In the 1980s, St. Joseph Conference Center grew, and the spirit of ecumenism was evident in the wide variety of church groups who utilized the Center. On October 31, 1982, the Tipton sisters began welcoming co-members as faith companions. The first class featured 24 co-members.

Through a grant from the Lilly Foundation in 1986, a Development Office was established to solicit funds to help ministries. “The Cornerstone” newsletter was created to inform relatives and benefactors of the Community and its ministries.

In 1989, an anonymous donor built a Montana-style Log Cabin retreat home north of the Motherhouse.

SJA Alumnae Banquet honoring 25th and 50th Year classes, 1987 newspaper picture

On March 5, 1990, Sr. Ann Weller set out for the community’s first foreign mission in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In 1991, the former Chaplains house was remodeled to serve as a second retreat house. It was named Little Noddfa, and was under the guidance of Sister Wanda Wetli who had returned from two years in the Wales retreat house Noddfa.

Sisters of St. Joseph continue tradition of service, December 17, 1988

St. Joseph complex begun in 1888, 1991 newspaper article

Harvest-for-Haiti fest set for next weekend, October 31, 1992

In the fall of 1992, the community voted to refurbish the Motherhouse and rename it the St. Joseph Center to better reflect its use as a retreat and conference center, with 25 two-room senior apartments. Renovation work was complete October 24, 1993 and included apartments for retired Sisters, a 12-bed infirmary, 25 refurbished en-suite guestrooms for retreats, and senior apartments.

SJA Alumnae Officers, 1992 newspaper picture

St. Joseph Chapel was remodeled and rededicated in March 31, 1996. 

In the fall of 2001 Sister Martin (Marty) McEntee invited the leadership of the Heartland Region Congregation to help the Tipton Sisters discern the Congregation's future, and by 2004 eight of the Congregations of the Heartland began the reconfiguration discernment. Seven of the eight Congregations continued to choose the reconfiguration and on March 19, 2007 the official approval of Rome for the new congregation was received.

The Labyrinth was dedicated and blessed Sunday, June 23, 2002 on the 10th anniversary of the Little Noddfa Retreat and Spiritual Life Center.

Eagle Scout project benefits sisters' work in The Catholic Moment June 23, 2002

In 2007, the Tipton community joined with six other communities to form the Congregation of St. Joseph.

After 124 years, the Congregation announced that the 11 remaining Sisters at the St. Joseph Center/Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse would leave the Tipton facility and move to another Congregation of St. Joseph Center of their choice. Senior residents moved out earlier in 2012, and the retreat center ceased hosting groups by December 31, 2012. The Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse closed March 27, 2013. The property sat dormant for four years prior to the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana purchase in 2016.

One sister remained in Elwood until 2019 when she relocated to the Congregation of St. Joseph Center in Wheeling, WV. Two sisters continued ministry in the Diocese until September 2020 when they relocated to the Congregation of St. Joseph Center in Kalamazoo, MI. As of 2023, two additional sisters are retired in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and a total of 12 are still living. 

Spiritual community offers tranquil retreat in the Kokomo Tribune
April 7, 2012

Sisters to leave St. Joseph Center in Tipton in The Catholic Moment
July 29, 2012

Volunteering helps one friend of the congregation remember and keep in touch Fall 2015

"2 Sisters Coffee" continues a legacy of loving service in The Catholic Moment, September 3, 2017

The property on Division Road in Tipton was sold to the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana on May 4, 2016 and began operation as the Saint Joseph Retreat & Conference Center on September 26, 2017.

Since closing, Associates and Sisters remaining in Indiana have continued to gather on a regular basis to pray and share the State of the Heart. As of 2021 there are 36 Associates from the Founding Community of Tipton.

70 Years a Sister of St. Joseph in The Catholic Moment, November 5, 2017

Serving the Dear Neighbor News & Annual Report 2017

Serving the Dear Neighbor News & Annual Report 2018

Serving the Dear Neighbor News & Annual Report 2019

Sisters of St. Joseph leave 132-year legacy in The Catholic Moment
November 1, 2020

Serving the Dear Neighbor News from the Sisters of St. Joseph 2020

Serving the Dear Neighbor News from the Sisters of St. Joseph 2021

Sister Karen Van de Walle, Potter in Imagine ONE newsletter of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Fall/Winter 2022

Sister Rosie Coughlin, a Kentland native, celebrates her 75th Jubilee

Undated publications connected to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton
Down on the Farm article about Adrian Quinn

Sisters of St. Joseph entry in The Indianian

Nun population dwindling

Useful Links
Tipton County Historical Society (member)
Tipton County Public Library