St Rose Academy
St Rose Academy (founded August 1956) is a private co-educational Catholic elementary school, one of 31 schools nationwide operated by the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia Congregation. The school has an enrollment of approximately 250 students in prekindergarten through 8th grade taught by 20 teaching staff. The principal is Sister Mary Caroline.
The school was founded under the guidance of Terence Mackin, the brother of Sister Aloysius Mackin, a member of the congregation. He made plans to convert his home, a 1911 mansion at 1401 22nd Street South near Arlington Avenue on Red Mountain, into a school. The Dominican Sisters agreed to staff the school, which opened in August 1956, shortly after Mackin's death.
For nearly 40 years, the school and convent were entirely housed in the Mackin house. The garage was converted into a kindergarten in 1957. In 1962 a wing was added to the house to provide three additional classromms. In 1993 a gymnasium building with additional classrooms was constructed on an adjacent parcel. Four years later the sisters purchased the former Discovery Place building and additional properties further up the mountainside. A new convent building was dedicated in 1998.
In 2007 the sisters reached an agreement with the city of Birmingham to purchase the former Red Mountain Museum for $606,632. Plans call for the dilapidated building to be demolished and used for parking in accordance with the school's master plan. The city would retain the small neighborhood park adjacent to the museum, and the locked access to the Red Mountain cut walkway. Proceeds from the sale will be directed to the McWane Science Center.
References
- Coman, Victoria L. (May 15, 2007) "Vote on selling museum site to St. Cecilia nuns expected." Birmingham News.
External links
- St Rose Academy website