Principal
Mrs. Coleen Reynolds

School Office
802-223-6430
46 Barre Street
Montpelier, Vermont 05602
Washington County

School Information
Grades: Preschool-5
Mascot: Crusaders
School Colors: Purple, White
Email Address: contact@saintmikes.org
Website: http://saintmikes.org

A History of St. Michael's School

The story of St. Augustine is not only the story of a church, its clergy and its congregation. In a sense, it is the story of a long line of people, of families who shared common beliefs and common commitments. Over the years, one of the foundations of that community within a community has been church. The other has been school.

One of the earliest pictures we have of St. Michael's School which opened in 1875 on the site which is now Capital Apartments.

The Rev. Joseph Duglue began planning the parish's first school almost immediately after his arrival at St. Augustine. After years of work, he was able to open the parish's first school in September of 1875, creating an institution and a tradition that have survived for over 129 years.

The Rev. Duglue was an educated man himself - a man of French ancestry and significant personal wealth. The parish school, which was first located on Court Street, had a student population of 195 during its first year, and was staffed by seven women from the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. They were also known as the Ladies of Nazareth.

Margaret Emmons, in her history of St. Augustine's, noted that the members of St. Michaels' first faculty had "far better educations than the public school teachers of their day. This fact, together with their zeal and their truly religious characters, by far offset their lack of equipment."

Members of the Ladies of Sacred Heart remained at St. Michael's for 24 years, until 1899, nurturing the school through its early years and making an important contribution not only to the development of the school, but to St. Augustine's Parish generally.

The Montpelier Evening Argus noted their departure in its July 25, 1899 edition.

"The primary object of this particular order of sisters was not to teach, but they were assigned to Vermont owing to the dearth of teachers for parochial schools," the paper reported. "Now that the sisters among whom teaching is a vocation are increasing, these sisters are gradually being with-drawn from the small schools..."

In 1899, six nuns from the Sister of Mercy order - under the leadership of Mother Mary Joseph Malloy - replaced the Ladies of Nazareth. It was the first time the Sisters of Mercy had taken an assignment outside of Burlington in 25 years, and the Montpelier Evening Argus duly recorded their arrival.

"Their most experienced teachers will come to Montpelier to continue the good work performed by their predecessors," the newspaper wrote. "Particular attention will be given the business course instituted during the past year, also to all branches of music, both instrumental and vocal, and painting."

Parts of the two top floors of the school building served as the sister's convent. There were walls within the building that lacked plaster, and the ceilings were unfinished. There was no central heating system either.

Father William O'Sullivan had taken over as pastor of St. Augustine 14 years earlier, and he continued Father Duglue's commitment to the parish school.

"He was a great lover of children and he delighted in being with them," Margaret Emmons wrote. "It was he who revamped the entire school system, establishing a commercial department in 1899."

The school designed its curriculum mindful of the needs of local businesses, such as National Life.

"In the commercial course...the following branches will be taught: Complete bookkeeping, office routine by the voucher method, business law, commercial arithmetic, business grammar and correspondence, photography and typewriting,: the Montpelier Argus reported on Sept. 1, 1899.

"...The other classes will consist of the grammar, intermediate, primary and kindergarten. Algebra will be taught in the highest class, should any pupil desire to prepare for entrance to high school.

"The kindergarten class will be under the supervision of one of the best teachers in the state. Parents are requested to visit this department as soon as the little ones have commenced their work...

"Persons who desire to cultivate their musical talent will have ample opportunity of doing so, as lessons will be given on the piano, organ, banjo and mandolin at reasonable terms...

"A literary society for the young ladies of the parish will be organized in September. The work for the year will consist in studies from the leading American authors and the world's greatest master-pieces in art.

"Later in the year it is planned to have a gymnasium for the boys in connection with which a school battalion will be organized and drilled. This announcement will be received with interest among the boys."

Mrs. Julian Ryle Goodrich, whose earliest recollections of St. Michael's go back to 1906, recalls that students who graduated from the school's business courses were considered the best office help in town.

And she also remembers that the Washington's Birthday holiday was a major celebration for St. Michael's School children, who were taken by sleigh to Waterbury and Northfield for parties at the homes of priests living there.

Father O'Sullivan died on June 22, 1915, following a long and painful illness. He was succeeded for six years by Rev. Patrick J. Long, then, in 1921, by Rev. William Patrick Crosby. When he moved the parish rectory from Court Street to Barre Street, he converted the Court Street residence into a convent for the school's teaching sisters.

In 1923, he and the Sisters of Mercy - despite considerable opposition - established St. Michael's High School in part of the old school building that had been vacated by the nuns. The school began with but one teacher and one classroom, but by the time Father Crosby presided over its first graduation ceremony on the evening of June 14th, 1927, it had grown to 16 students, six teachers and several classrooms.

The high school graduated five classes in the old school building on Court Street, before moving in 1931 to a newly constructed Barre Street building that also housed the 7th and 8th grades.

Margaret Emmons, in her parish history, hinted at the pride with which the parish looked upon its high school.

"St. Michael's High School is now taxed to capacity and all indications point to a steady growth in the number of students who wish to avail themselves of the benefit of a sound Catholic education," she wrote. "Truly it has been a success from every angle, and at the present writing we are basking in the success of its undefeated Basket Ball (sic) Team."

The elementary and high schools have been at the heart of parish life for years, although St. Michael's High School closed in 1967 after graduating 41 classes of seniors.

Paul Guare began his schooling in the elementary school in about 1927, and recalls much about the facility.

"They didn't really have an established kindergarten. What they had was a table in the front of the room of the first grade, and the first grade teacher was Sister Monica and she handled both...I guess there must have been 15 or 20 of us around that table."

Guare recalls that the high school had an annual dinner reception for incoming freshmen, complete with speeches from various people - including the president of the eighth grade class - and an admonishment from Father Crosby that no hazing of freshmen would be allowed.

And St. Michael's was one of the few schools that had an orchestra. It started when J. Leo Messier, a graduate of the Boston Conservatory, began giving violin and horn lessons, and evolved into a successful band that was part of St. Michael's for years.

The school also had a chorus - everyone in the high school participated - and a Senior Choir. And in addition to its highly popular and successful high school basketball team, the school organized an elementary-level basketball program as well.

Father Crosby's unswerving devotion to St Michael's is reflected in the fact that he served as its principal for 36 years. It is also reflected in the way he chose to celebrate both his silver and golden jubilees of his ordination; he used them as fund-raising events, with the proceeds designated for the school.

St. Michael's Banner, the school newspaper, recorded some of the events surrounding the first of those two celebrations, which was held on January 23, 1930.

"The plan of observing Father Crosby's Silver Jubilee was conceived last fall by his parishioners..."the paper reported. "When the sponsors of the idea presented themselves to the Pastor to ask his permission to proceed with preparations, he told them that he did not feel inclined to be the recipient of any such testimonial."

"Upon reconsideration, however, he said he would not be adverse to having his anniversary used as an occasion for a drive for funds for the new school. Forthwith a Silver Jubilee Committee was formed...This committee with the aid of several willing workers made a canvas of the Parish and obtained donations and pledges of approximately $20,000."

The money raised by the jubilee celebration was designated to help pay for construction of the new high school on Barre Street. It covered a full one-fifth of the construction costs. That school graduated 35 classes of seniors before the high school program was ended in 1967. The school itself was used for the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades until they were discontinued in 1970 and the building was leased (later sold) to the city.

The old St. Michael's School off Court Street had been vacated in 1938, when the elementary grades were moved to the city-owned school on the corners of East State and Hubbard streets - which Father Crosby had leased from the city for $1 per year. They remained there until they were absorbed into the Barre Street school.

The parish's schools flourished particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. Many grades had two classes; there were as many as 23 teaching nuns, and total enrollment at one time exceeded 650 students.

The fifth grade reopened in 1977, and the sixth followed suit in 1979. Currently Saint Michael's serves students in grades Preschool through 5.

A Lasting Legacy

	Sister dePazzi and Sister Baptista.

The memory of a good and kind teacher can last a lifetime. There are thousands of such memories in the people who passed through the halls and classrooms of St. Michael's schools over the years. Paul Guare, who entered the Catholic education system in 1927, in a 1991 interview shared his recollections of one teacher who had a particularly powerful influence on his life - Sister M. Baptista. When St. Michaels' High School opened in 1923, St. Baptista was its only teacher - a one person faculty.

"She was the most extraordinary teacher I ever had," recalls Guare. "She taught all of the courses in the freshman class. She was able to do it. I mean she was brilliant in any curriculum. Languages...Algebra, English, History...Latin and Greek probably, she taught all of that. She could do anything...

"She taught English, she started a dramatic club. She ran it and was excellent in that. Excellent director. She was a great writer and poet. And she established a library, a high school library. Used to buy books and all that. She was really an extraordinary person. A magnificent woman."