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The first school was located in the same building with the church, at the
corner of Buchanan and Campbell. There were only four grades. The Sisters of
St. Francis of Milwaukee, were the first order of sisters to teach at St. Francis.
Their convent was located on Campbell. By 1900 eight Sisters staffed the school.
Their order was predominantly German. In 1901, a group of Polish Sisters in the order, with permission of the Bishop, separated from the Sisters of St. Francis and became know as the Sisters of St. Joseph. Their Mother House is located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. |
At the time the present church building was built in 1903, seventeen Sisters were assigned to St. Francis. Plans for a new and larger school were in the works.
Starting in 1914 the old school and church building were torn down, to make room for the new school and convent. Classes were held in church and in the Parish Hall, and where ever space could be found. Enrollment was increasing rapidly, it was not unusual to have fifty or more students in one class at a time, with multiple classes of the same grade. In 1917 the new brick school and convent were completed on their present site. By 1919 twenty-five Sisters four lay Sisters and their Superior, occupied the convent which was built to house only twenty Sisters so great was the need for the Sisters.
By 1926, St Francis School was one of the largest in Detroit. Class sizes were around sixty per class with two and three classes of each grade. Between the years 1920 and 1935, the school enrollment peaked at 1,500 and began to decline to 1,000 by early 1940's.
The last four Sisters of St. Joseph, left St. Francis School in 1987 and end to a 95 year old tradition.