Description

St. Joseph's Academy class picture. First Row (lower): Fern Robinson, Maud Murphy, Fern Duke, unidentified, Mary Farley, unidentified, Beryl Jean Jamison, unidentified, Dick Hildebrandt, Walter Murphy.

Second Row (lower): Lawrence Massing, next two unidentified, Frances Elliott, Theresa Massing, unidentified, Eula Picket, Louise Hill, Malcom Barrett, Beverly Burk.

Thrid Row: Lila Campbell, unidentified, Ethel Love, Mary Fitzgerald, Herman McDonald, Leona Murphy, Elsie Duke, unidentified, Blanche McDonald, Maud Hanna.

Fourth Row: Monreal (Diego), Frank Murphy, Fred McMahon, remainder unidentified.

Fifth Row: Ed Farley, Earl Nash, Fred Eckert, next three unidentified, Homer Lettler, unidentified, Katie Burton, unidentified.

Sixth Row: unidentified, O’Sullivan (Pat) (Hazel), Theresa Sidel, Sister Mary Rose, next two unidentified, Marie Derr, O’Sullivan (Pat) Ellen, Mary Murphy, unidentified.

In the 1870s, a hospital was desperately needed in Prescott. Help was sought from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet to open a hospital in the Prescott area. From the recently formed Western Provence in Tucson, Sisters Mary Martha and Mary Rose arrived in Prescott in the fall of 1878 with the financial aid of the territorial governor, John Fremont, and his wife, Jessie. The sisters opened their hospital in a small frame house on Alarcon and Willis streets.

From the beginning, when the sisters had few patients, they began teaching the Catholic children in the area. Bishop Peter Bourgade discontinued the hospital in 1885, believing strongly that the building would be better served as a school, "as the need for fine education in the area is great." With that proclamation, the healing of the sick was given to the Sisters of Mercy while the Sisters of St. Joseph devoted themselves to the school. Once the hospital closed, the house was remodeled and reopened a year later as St. Joseph's Academy, a boarding and day school for girls. Boys were accepted in the elementary grades only. It was dubbed the "Catholic Pioneer School of the West," even though the Tucson school opened fifteen years earlier.

In 1890, with enrollment expanding, a move to larger quarters was necessary. A two-story building was found near where the Sacred Heart Parish Church was being built on Marina Street, which is today [2018] Prescott Center for the Arts.  (now in use by the Prescott Fine Arts.  Grammar school boys were boarded in a small house nearby called "The Cottage." Because most students came from ranches and outlying mining towns, boarding was a necessity. Fees were $20 a month for board and tuition with day students paying only $5 per month.

Within a short time, it was obvious the facility was becoming overcrowded. Frank Murphy, a local land investor, donated a ten acre tract of land known as Murphy Hill for the construction of a magnificent mission-style three-story edifice of native granite and opened in 1904. . It was located three blocks northwest of the courthouse plaza on a hill overlooking the city, which is today [2018] the site of the Scared Heart Catholic Church. The third-floor dormitory could house thirty-five students. Murphy continued to be a benefactor, including supplying books for the library.

Source: The Daily Courier, June 4, 2011.