page_title: St. Mary's Church and Rectory (Iowa City, Iowa)
section_title: St. Mary's School
hierarchical_section_title: St. Mary's Church and Rectory (Iowa City, Iowa) / St. Mary's School
caption_attribution_description: English: The former Saint Mary's Convent in Iowa City, Iowa. It is now part of the Newman Catholic Student Center. The building is a contributing property in the Jefferson Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
context_page_description: St. Mary's Catholic Church, also known as St. Mary of the Visitation Church, is a parish church of the Diocese of Davenport which is located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The church building and rectory were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. They were both included as contributing properties in the Jefferson Street Historic District in 2004. The parish's first rectory, which is now a private home, is also listed on the National Register as St. Mary's Rectory. It is located a few blocks to the east of the present church location at 610 E. Jefferson St.
context_section_description: In 1844 Father Godfert started the parish's first school in the basement of the church with Miss Norma O'Connor as the first teacher. The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary arrived in Iowa City in 1860 to teach at St. Mary's. They also opened St. Agatha's Seminary, a school for girls, in 1861. In 1865 St. Joseph Institute, a school for advanced learning, was established by Father Emonds. It was taught by lay teachers and closed around 1890.
  In 1892 the parish acquired property on the corner of Clinton and Jefferson Streets. The cornerstone for the new school was laid on September 11, 1892 on that location. The new school opened in 1893 with Franciscan Sisters teaching there until 1895, when the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary again started teaching in the school. In 1897 high school grades were added to the school, and it was the first Catholic high school in Iowa to be accredited by the State University of Iowa. In 1911 an addition was built onto the school, which contained an auditorium and cafeteria. A convent was also built to house the sisters. It was replaced by the current building, now a part of the Newman Center, in 1926. The new convent was built for $33,000. St. Mary's and St. Patrick's high schools were consolidated in 1958 when Regina High School was opened. The St. Mary's School building started to deteriorate, and it was closed in 1968. The school itself consolidated with the school at St. Patrick's and used its building. The sisters remained in the St. Mary's Convent. In 1975 the St. Mary's school buildings and convent were sold to the diocese for use by the Newman Center. In the early 1990s, an addition was made to Regina High School and the elementary and junior high school grades were moved from St. Patrick's.
  The school building had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as St. Mary's High School in 1977. It was removed in 1997 after the buildings had been torn down.
caption: The former convent, now a part of the Newman Center, was located next to the school building.
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