Historical Marker
Central Catholic High School
San Antonio, Bexar County · Texas
Erected 1978
The college that grew from the brothers' school moved away in stages. As boarders outgrew the downtown buildings, they were sent in 1894 to the new St. Louis College in West Heights, and in 1923 the college division followed and became St. Mary's University. That same year downtown alumni began building a gymnasium for the Marianists, still called Alumni Gym. Their yearly oyster bake, started in 1917, became part of Fiesta San Antonio. A law school was added in 1934, and in 1949 students and faculty built most of the university's Centennial Memorial Library themselves.
What the plaque says
Central Catholic High School This school originated at a time when San Antonio lacked a boys' school of any kind. Bishop Jean-Marie Odin obtained teachers in France from the Society of Mary: Nicholas Koenig, Jean-Baptiste Laignaux, and Xavier Mauclerc. Andrew Edel, another Marianist from Ohio, was principal; San Antonio layman Timothy O'Neal also joined the staff. he school opened Aug. 26, 1852, in two rooms over a livery stable near San Fernando Cathedral. During the winter the brothers erected a building near the San Antonio River. "St. Mary's Institute" occupied that campus on March 1, 1853, and finished the school year with 100 pupils of various creeds. Enrolled as day students were Anglo-, French-, German-, and Mexican-Americans. South Texas ranch boys attended as boarders. After expanding that building, the brothers erected others, including a four-story "skyscraper" unique for the 1870s. St. Mary's University of San Antonio was one outgrowth of the 1852 "Brothers' School". After several changes of names and facilities, Central Catholic High School in 1932 became the successor of the pioneer effort, and is now revered as the oldest and the largest private boy's school in Texas. (1978)
Where it stands
29.43667, -98.48486 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- The Alamo — 0.8 miMission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.
- San Fernando Cathedral — 1.0 miThe Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.
- San Antonio River Walk — 1.0 miA Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.
- La Villita Historic Arts Village — 1.0 miThe little village across the river from the presidio, where Cos surrendered San Antonio in 1835, rebuilt by Depression-era youth crews as a working crafts village.