The Sisters of St. Joseph’s St. Mary's School for Boys grew from parent requests

From the fall of 1908 until the spring of 1922, back to school applied to girls and boys on our campus!

The Sisters established St. Joseph Academy for Girls shortly after arriving in Tipton in 1888. The high school Academy moved from Mill Street in Tipton to a wooded area one mile north of town in 1904 to what is now the St. Joseph Retreat & Conference Center. The St. Mary's School for boys opened in 1908.

St. Mary’s was established due to many applications from parents who desired Catholic education for their young sons. The bungalow home was added to campus to accommodate a limited number of boys from grades one to eight.

Courses meeting state requirements were offered for each grade. In addition, the Sisters offered classes in art and music, including piano, violin, and voice.

The Sisters taught the Palmer Method of penmanship, a simplified style handwriting where students were taught to adopt a uniform system of cursive writing with rhythmic motions. It was a great honor to earn a diploma in the Palmer Method.

As word spread of St. Mary’s School for Boys, the bungalow filled to capacity. The older boys remained there and the younger boys were housed in the west side of the Convent building, which was added to the main St. Joseph Academy building in 1910. By 1915 enrollment had increased to 40 boys and a large classroom was added to the east side of the Convent.

Among the best remembered and highly respected boy's school boarders were Adrian and Martin Quinn, who were seven and five when they arrived at St. Mary’s in 1914. Their mother, Katherine (Sullivan) Quinn, was a widow who had worked as a tailoress at L. S. Ayres department store prior to marriage. After her husband's death, she was able to regain her former employment and attempted to care for the boys as well. Finding this was too difficult, St. Mary’s was suggested to her. The boys were only enrolled a week before she grew so lonely for them. She took them back to Indianapolis, but within a short time found this arrangement impossible. The boys returned to Tipton.

Adrian was deaf and couldn’t attend school with the other boys, so he helped the Sisters with the busy farm—milking cows, gathering eggs, feeding 200 pigs and caring for 14 horses, in addition to the cornfields. The Sisters taught him to read, and after he became blind in 1970, taught him Braille.

Martin left the Sisters to live with his mother in Indianapolis and attend St. Peter and Paul High School but spent his summers in Tipton. He returned after graduation. Later, he enlisted in the US Army, serving as a Sergeant in the 245th AAF Base Unit during World War II. He soon returned to the Sisters and his role as supervisor of grounds and maintenance.

Adrian and Martin lived in the bungalow and worked for the Sisters until their deaths. Martin died October 10, 1980 at age 71, and Adrian died August 25, 2002 at age 95. Both are buried, along with their mother, in the Sisters of St. Joseph cemetery on campus.

After the two oldest students at St. Mary’s School for Boys entered eighth grade, the Sisters felt it necessary to close the school. Martin Quinn and Thomas Goggin were the last 8th grade graduates in the spring of 1922.

Follow these links to see historical documents about St. Mary’s School for Boys

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

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