The History of Springfield Sacred Heart Academy Springfield (population 111,454) is located in south central Illinois and is home to the State Capital. Springfield is also the county seat of Sangamon County, having been founded around 1821, became the county seat in 1823, and received its city charter in 1840. It was made the capital of Illinois in 1837, and the Legislature convened here for the first time in 1839 after moving from Vandalia. Interstates 55 & 72 are the major thoroughfares thru Springfield, as are US 36, Illinois 4, 29, 54, and 97. Also, the “Mother Road,” US Route 66 ran thru town while it was in service, and still serves Springfield as the Dirksen Parkway in honor of former US Senator Everett Dirksen. According to a source, the community was founded when Zachariah Peter, William Drennan, and Rivers Cormack drove a stake in the ground at a place described when the transaction was recorded as “a point in the prairie near John Kelly’s field on the water of Spring Creek.” By 1837, due in large part to the political maneuverings of a young politician named Abraham Lincoln, Springfield became the State Capital. From that point the City’s history, and indeed its future, has been and will always be inexorably tied to this famous American. We are aware of the fact that Sacred Heart Academy first opened its doors in 1895, and the history of the school is in the process of being researched. According to the Illinois High School Association’s website (www.ihsa.org), the earliest known date that the school existed in their records was during the 1967-68 school year. It is a known fact that Sacred Heart was an all-girls’ parochial school as a companion school to the all-boys’ Griffin High School. The schools merged into one institution after the 1987-88 school to form what is now known as Sacred Heart-Griffin High School. Like two other schools on this website, Joliet Catholic and Joliet St. Francis Academy, both Sacred Heart & Griffin brought all students into the same setting while allowing each gender retain their nickname and school colors. FACTS ABOUT SPRINGFIELD SACRED HEART ACADEMY School opened: 1895 School closed: 1988 Now part of: Sacred Heart-Griffin High School School colors: Blue & Gold School nickname: Blazers School song: “We Believe” (To the tune of the old song, “I Believe”) Courtesy of SHARON HUCK (’76) & GINNY (HUCK) SCHOFIELD (’78) We believe in Sacred Heart Academy and in it’s creed. We believe that SHA has heard our cry and filled our need. We believe that none could ever go astray Who learned from you to live and pray. We believe, we believe. We believe that of our days the greatest one is that today, Because now the time has come to go alone along the way. Now we’ll know that what you’ve taught us through the years Has not been in vain; was worth the pain, And we will know if we believe. ATHLETICS Sacred Heart Academy offered volleyball, basketball, softball, tennis, swimming, badminton, and speech team activities to its female students while open for business. Golf, cross-country, and soccer may have been offered before the merger, but there is no record of it, according to the IHSA. If anyone knows if these sports were offered before 1988 at Sacred Heart, please let us know by emailing us at dr.veeman@gmail.com. |
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