Historical Marker · No. 630
St. Vincent's School for Boys
San Rafael, Marin County · California
Erected by California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Marin Committee on History and Landmarks of the Native Sons and Native Daughters of the Golden West, 1958
The founders on the bronze arrived on a deadline. Timothy Murphy, dying of a burst appendix in January 1853, left the land to the church on condition that a school open within two years. In the first week of January 1855 Sister Frances McEnnis sent Sister Corsina McKay across the Golden Gate with two laywomen and four orphans to secure it, believing her superiors had agreed. They had not, and the Sisters withdrew before the year was out. Boys from the city's orphanage followed; by the 1880s more than five hundred lived here.
What the plaque says
St. Vincent's School for Boys In 1853, Timothy Murphy, Irish born pioneer of Marin County, gave 317 acres of land to Archbishop Alemany for educational purposes. Here the Sisters of Charity in 1855 founded a school, now called St. Vincent's School for Boys, it has been maintained and enlarged by successive archbishops of San Francisco. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 630 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Marin Committee on History and Landmarks of the Native Sons and Native Daughters of the Golden West, October 19, 1958.
Where it stands
38.03477, -122.52695 · Directions
More markers nearby
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