| The History of Philo St. Joseph Academy High School
Philo (population 1,314) is located in east-central Illinois about 6 miles southeast of Champaign. The town was platted in the south-central portion of Champaign County in 1864. Illinois Route 130 is the main roadway leading to Philo and it intersects with County Highway 18 in town. The Black Slough Creek flows to the south of Philo. The Norfolk & Western railroad travels through the north side of town.. According to a “rootsweb” website page the early history of Philo is as follows: “The village of Philo, of considerable importance, stands on a beautiful location, situated on the Toledo, Wabash and Western railroad. It was laid out in 1864 by E. B. Hale, the son of Philo Hale, and includes 80 acres of land.” Information on Philo High School can be viewed on this website by clicking here. We have found the following information on St. Joseph Academy ( a grade and high school) in Philo on the internet. According to the web address of http://www.cdop.org/catholic_post/post_9_11_05/news.cfm from the Catholic Archdiocese of Peoria: “The first Catholic school in Philo opened in 1905 as St. Joseph’s Academy, an elementary and high school that served both the Philo and Bongard churches. The Dominican Sisters of Springfield gave 95 years of service to the school, from its founding until their withdrawal in 2000. The original three-story building served as both a school and a convent for the Dominicans. A boarding school opened in 1907 for students from outlying areas who returned home on weekends. St. Joseph’s high school graduated its final class in 1938, and the following fall the elementary school reopened as St. Thomas.” It appears that Philo St. Joseph Academy was a co-educational school, at least in the end. The above two paragraphs contain the totality of the information we currently have available on the history of Philo St. Joseph Academy. Please contact us if you have ANY further information to share. |
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