St. Joseph Catholic School Marks 100 Years With Centennial Reunion This Weekend
ST. JOSEPH (WJON News) -- There is a big reunion happening this weekend in St. Joseph. The St. Joseph Catholic School building is turning 100 years old this year.
Spokesman Bruce Bechtold says the school, previously known as the St. Joe Lab School, has evolved over the years.
Currently, it's preschool through 5th grade, and it's being run now by The Catholic Community Schools. Years ago, when my dad went there, they had 1st grade through 8th grade. If they went to high school, they went to St. Cloud to either Cathedral or Tech.
The Church of St. Joseph was founded in 1856 and is the oldest consecrated Catholic church in Minnesota. A school district was formed very early on, with the first students going to a log school. As the parish grew, other school buildings were built and used. The current building was constructed in 1926.
Bechtold says the building has had an interesting history.
Back in the day, it was more of a community center. There was a bowling alley in there and a movie theater. Eventually, those spaces were taken over for classrooms. It's a neat old building.
Bechtold says a lot of multi-generational families have ties to the school.
My own kids went there, so they are the 3rd generation from my family. We did look back and there are some families that are 4th generation that currenly have students there. One hundred years spans a lot of time and a lot of generations.
Photos and memorabilia will be on display in the school when you walk through this weekend.
An all-school reunion will take place this weekend, Friday through Sunday. Friday is a Kidtoberfest from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday is Rocktoberfest from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., and Sunday is a 10:00 a.m. Mass followed by a school open house and social.
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Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
