Parish school

St. Andrew's School

Grand Rapids, Kent Co, Michigan

GRPL 185-3-56

This photo shows the original 1873 school.

GRPL 88-1-3 1913 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

This photo shows the original portion of the 1873 school on the left. On the right is the 1899 replacement for the burned portion of the 1873 building. This is also shown on the 1913 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. I have marked the division in red. Note the difference in the roof line, the windows and most importantly the basement.

^{1953 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map}

The 1953 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the 1915 replacement on the left for the 1873 portion that caught on fire. .

I just visited this school. The right building has a high basement but not as high as the left.
There were at least two school rooms and those large bathrooms in the basement as was common in the early 1900s.
On the upper floors there was that red oak vertical wainscoting common
in the public schools built in the 1880's that still existed when I was a kid. Public Schools

I guess I should have started this project by reading Fr. McGee's book. How nice of him to verify my research.

Since the school was built before the new church was built, a temporary chapel (for more than three years) was created on the third floor by installing the pews and altar from the old Monroe Avenue church.

Celebrating A Legacy

137 Years

"In 1872, Father Patrick McManus arrived in Grand Rapids with big plans. His first step was to purchase land for a new church and a school, and he was soon braking ground for the school at the corner of Sheldon Ave and Maple St. (The projected cost was a striking $15,000.) He was also recruiting a teaching staff, which he found in the Sisters of Mercy, a group of Irish nuns stationed in New York who declared themselves willing to take on the new school".

"September 1873 saw St. Andrew's School open for the business of education in a converted barn near the school's construction site until the new building was completed in the spring of 1874". When the Sisters of Mercy left to start their own convent school, Father McManus "found new teachers in the Sisters of Charity, out of Cincinnati, who took charge in 1877".

"February 16, 1899 the school caught fire after school hours. "There was major damage to the building, but rebuilding began the very next month, and a year later the new school was ready. The oldest part of today's building is that structure".

"1906 saw important changes in Catholic education in Grand Rapids, and they directly affected St. Andrew's School.
All the parish high schools were consolidated in Catholic Central High School for Boys, to be located at St. Andrew's, and Sacred Heart Academy for girls, a few blocks away. Catholic Central would be run by the Sisters of Charity, Sacred Heart by the Dominicans". The Sisters of Charity departed Grand Rapids. In 1914, the Dominicans took over St. Andrews.

"--- just after 2:00 on Friday, January 8, 1915" another fire. "The crowd gathered outside saw the old portion of the school and the roof of the new one destroyed." --- rebuilding the school --- in just one year. The new building with it's red brick facade and welcoming entrance on Sheldon --- is the one we know today".

"The following years were at first a time of growth for St. Andrew's but new schools at other parishes began to affect enrollment in the 1920s. Between 1922 and 1944 the student population fell from 643 to 300. At the same time, Catholic Central's need for space grew, and by the 1950s the high school occupied all but eight classrooms in St. Andrew's building". (As is shown on the Sanborn map).

"---the greatest challenge --- was social change. Populations shifts --- and urban renewal deprived both the school and the church of their familiar and supporting neighborhood environment. ---- Without its old neighborhood population, the school suffered. ---- including a 1990's remodeling made the school handicap-accessible and created well-equipped science labs and other classrooms in the basement". (Does this mean there were no classrooms in the basement before? The coal bin shown on the Sanborn was also removed).

" This account is closely based on Elizabeth Hoffman's excellent well-researched, and much more detailed St. Andrew's: The Story of a people".

City Assessor Records

All Around in 2010

This view shows the original 1899 entrance. The door on the left leads to a separate stairway leading up. The door on the right leads to a separate stairway leading down.

This view is from LaGrave Ave:

It clearly shows the 1899 building to the left and the red elevator shaft and handicap ramp added more recently onto the 1915 addition.

From Maple Street:

From Sheldon Ave.

I know I took a photo from this direction but I can't find it. So the Grand Rapids Press to the rescue:

^GRP

The gym: ^{City Assessor}
From the north, original gym to the right side.

The playground is where the former Convent was. But the convent wasn't for St. Andrews Elementary but Catholic Central. I do like that two apartment houses were converted. These type of apartment houses were very common in this area when I was a child. There are only a few left. One was just torn down for a new medical facility.

After 137 years, the school is no more

Last year the school closed and all other Catholic schools were allowed to come in and take whatever they wanted. Now, February 2011, the diocese submitted a plan to the City to tear the school down and replace it with a green space

^{GRP Feb 21}

^{GRP Feb 24}

^{GRP Feb 27}

GRP March 9

GRP 25 Mar

Interior March 1911 at the Garage Sale

Using the 1953 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map I have indicated where I stood when taking the pictures, then moved on to the next number. The red line indicates an interior wall and doorway that closes off the stairway, a new fire regulation within my lifetime.

East - LaGrave Ave

North - Maple Street South - towards Goodrich Street

West - Sheldon Ave

Entering the 1915 portion from Maple Street 1:

Looking: East West North South towards 1899 bldg

Entering the 1915 portion from Sheldon Ave 2: Notice how the "main" entrance leads to stairs going down and a hall that leads to the girls' restroom. Behind the stairs is the "back" entrance and the elevator addition.
The stair arrangement just seems backwards to me. Oh, and the boys have to go upstairs to their only restroom. There's another girls' restroom on the third floor.

Looking: East West South towards 1899 bldg

In the 1899 portion 3:

Notice that the entrance stairway is separated by a wall from the down stairway which had a separate entrance.
The biggest different between the two buildings was the narrow red oak wainscoting and clothes' closets and
indoor plumbing. .