| Momence St. Patrick High School Building | |||||||||
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| Courtesy of Sherree Benoit | |||||||||
The History of Momence St. Patrick Academy
Momence (population: 3,200) is located in eastern Illinois in Kankakee County, about eight miles of Kankakee and six miles west of the Illinois-Indiana state line. The Kankakee River runs thru the middle of the city, and can also be reached by using state highways 1, 17, and 114.
The community was named for Isadore Momence, who later married the daughter of a Pottawatomi chief, sometime in the 1830’s or so. When Kankakee County was founded in 1853, Momence was one of the founding townships.
St. Patrick’s Academy was opened in 1906 as a co-ed grade school and all-girls’ high school. The Sisters Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary was in charge when the school opened. Boarders as well as day students were accepted.
The original building was built by Rev. Armand L. LaBrie, who was the pastor of St. Patrick Church, and it grew to the point that additional wings were built in 1910 and 1924. Classes were taught for college prep and commercial students.
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The school continued to serve grade schoolers and high school girls alike until around 1965 when the grade school was closed on account of the Sisters Servants not having enough teachers to staff the school. The order had moved a number of its members to bigger city schools to teach, which cut into the staffing of similar schools like St. Patrick’s.
Today. the grade school remains on the site, but the original convent building was torn down while the wings remain. That building housed a number of the dormitories for the boarding students, and also had some good-size parlors when parents came to the visit their daughters at school. |
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| INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MOMENCE ST. PATRICK ACADEMY
Year opened: 1906 Year closed: 1965 School colors: unknown School nickname: unknown School song: unknown ACTIVITIES We are not certain if there were any activities at the school, although one would want to have reason to believe there were dances, parties, GAA, music department offerings, and even Catholic school type organizations like Sodality at St. Patrick’s. If you know anything, please contact us at the addresses listed below. THE MORE WE GET, THE BETTER WE CAN TELL THE STORY…. about St. Patrick’s Academy in Momence. We would like to see about getting a photo of the old school itself, information about extra curricular activities, school colors, nickname, and school song. Please contact us by emailing ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net or send it via USPS to: Illinois High School Glory Days 6439 North Neva Chicago, IL 60631 |