Marker Details

Marker Text: First permanent Catholic school in Houston. Established by Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, a religious order founded 1625 in Lyons, France. In 1852, at request of the First Bishop of Texas, the Rt. Rev. John M. Odin, the order entered the United States to engage in religious education. The sisters opened their first school in Brownsville in 1853; second in Victoria, 1866; and the third here.

Mother M. Gabriel Dillon and two sisters came to Houston in 1873 at request of the Rev. Joseph Querat, to begin teaching young girls in temporary quarters at the old Franciscan Monastery on Franklin. By Jan. 3, 1874, their own 3-story edifice was finished. Facing Crawford, it had a courtyard bounded by Capitol and Jackson. Boarding facilities opened in a few months. A State of Texas Charter empowered the Academy to issue diplomas, beginning in 1878.

In 1899, the Exhibition Hall (auditorium) was built. To accommodate growth, another 3-story structure was added, 1905. Original building was replaced in 1948.

200 to 300 pupils annually have learned devotions, arts, and sciences under dedicated tutelage of the sisters, who have watched Houston grow from a small, muddy town into a city of cosmopolitan culture. (1972)

(see additional data on back)

A list of 12 Principals and 7 Superiors, 1873 to present, listed on incise on back of marker