History of St. Rose of Lima

On August 27, 1865, the church building was dedicated under the invocation of St. Rose of Lima. It was September 1, 1891 that school bells rang for the first time to announce the opening of the new parish school at St. Rose of Lima in DeSoto. The school was held in what was originally the first Catholic Church in DeSoto. Ursuline nuns from St. Louis had been asked to staff the school. The Ursuline nuns continued their service of teaching at St. Rose of Ninety-four years and have exercised considerable influence on the students they have taught. Enrollment during this first year was 150 pupils, of whom 15 were not Catholic. Grades one through eight were the usual grades that were taught at St. Rose, with two grades being combined in the same classroom for many years.

In 1892, Father William Noonan was named pastor and the school was enlarged ten by twelve and a half feet.

In 1922, Father Joseph Newman was named pastor and the 9th and 10th grade classrooms were discontinued in the parish school.

In 1925 Monsignor Edward Rogers was named pastor.

By 1929, it became apparent that a new and modern school was sorely needed. An intensive drive was begun among the parishioners to raise sufficient funds to begin work on a new school. The Labor Day Picnics had started three years earlier to accomplish this. A new three story brick building was dedicated with five classrooms on the main floor, an auditorium on the upper floor and a cafeteria on the lower floor. The school was equipped with all new furnishings, donated by the parishioners. The auditorium on the upper floor was often the site of numerous activities of the school, parish, and the civic community.

At the laying of the cornerstone of the new school building in April 1929, Felix Milfeld, who had prepared the contents of the cornerstone, claimed that the pictures preserved within it would be clear and bright for another 200 years!

In 1950, the first lay teachers were put on the staff of St. Rose School.

Because enrollment at St. Rose was gradually increasing upwards to 400 students and beyond, a major renovation program of the school building was begun in July of 1955 and completed by December 1956. Father Francis Hyland was the pastor. Plans called for remodeling the auditorium on the upper floor to five new classrooms as well as the installation of three new lavatories, the construction of a stainless steel kitchen in the cafeteria, and the laying of new tile (28 colors) on the floor of the cafeteria. The hardwood floors throughout the school were covered with asphalt or rubber tile.

 During the 1960’s the students were happy to find the following changes that were made in and around school: a fire escape was installed from the upper floor hallway directly down to the playground, a new ramp was built to connect the north door of school with the playground, and iron railings were installed at the south entrance to school. A hot lunch program available to all students began in 1955 and continues today. And with the erection of the new convent and rectory buildings, another era had come  

to an end – that of sitting in the swing on the front porch of the convent while waiting for music lessons to begin!

Improvements continued to be made in the school building during the 1970’s to provide the best atmosphere for learning by the students. Some of these improvements included: replacement of two outside doors on north and south sides, installing carpeting in the library, office and faculty room, pouring a concrete floor in the storage room under the school lavatories, replacement of windows with glass blocks and bricks and tuck pointing on the Fourth Street side of school, and installing new equipment on the playground.

In 1980, Father Edward Hilgeman was named pastor. In 1981 the cafeteria was air conditioned.

In 1993, the St. Rose School “Adopt-A-Student” program was started. It was later changed to the “Adopt-An-Angel” program, which still exists today.

In 1995, a group of mothers came up with the idea to have an auction for a fund raiser for the school. Little did they realize that 22 years later this annual auction would have raised almost $2,000,000 for the school. Last year the auction rose close to $100,000 for the school. Without the hard work of the auction committee and the many volunteers, this event could not be held. The auction has been one of the reasons that St. Rose of Lima School is still here today. The auction is always a fast sell-out and has become a social event not only for St. Rose parishioners, but the community as well.

In 2001, a new school entrance and sidewalk were installed on 4th Street and the cafeteria was made handicapped accessible and air-conditioners were installed in all the classrooms.

In 2008, Father Alexander Anderson was named pastor. Improvements have continued with the office being moved and remodeled, as well as the faculty lounge and the library was expanded and moved to the upper floor. Over the summer of 2010 plans were completed for a total re-landscaping of the front of the school (outside) and new ovens were purchased for the cafeteria.

In 2015, a new covered entrance to the playground was built, and in 2016, a covered entrance to Fourth Street, was donated by the St. Rose Quilters. There were several unsuccessful attempts to obtain a grant from the Jefferson Memorial Foundation to have a building built on the playground to help meet the needs of the school. In the spring of 2017, an anonymous donor gave a large amount of money to be added to previously donated funds so that St. Rose Hall could be built. In August 2017, ground was broken and E.A. Boyer Building and Design Co. started to build the block and steel building just outside the covered entrance to the playground.

This forty by eighty foot building will provide the school with the necessary space for P.E. classes, a place for indoor recess, extended care and special events. It gives the school flexibility to meet the needs of its slow, steady growth.

Today St. Rose has 101 students from preschool to 8th grade. Our goal is to continue the proud and long tradition of the past 125 years of providing quality Catholic education well into the future.