St. Mary of the Plains Alumni Association
P.O. Box 416
Located in the ground floor of Hennessy Hall
Dodge City, KS 67801
(620) 225-9072
mail: sjklie@carrollsweb.com
History of Saint Mary of the Plains Academy,
High School and College
The Sisters of St. Joseph operated Saint Mary of the Plains College
from 1952 through its closing in 1992. The institution was the successor
of Saint Mary of the Plains Academy, operated by the Sisters between 1913
and 1942. The Academy was located north of Dodge
City at a site bounded by the present US 50 Bypass and Melencamp Street.
It occupied the buildings of the original Soule College, operated by both
Presbyterians and Methodists for various periods.
The founder of Soule College, Asa T. Soule, was a patent medicine millionaire known worldwide as the "Hop BItters King." Hop Bitters was an elixir with the expressed purpose to "cure what ails ya." Soule, quick to amass a fortune, traveled to southwest Kansas to invest his money. His first venture involved the famous Eureka Irrigation Canal, an irrigation ditch that zigzagged across the prairie from Ingalls to Kinsley. In 1886, he took "stock" in education, gladly lending his name to Soule College after partially endowing it with $50,000.
The college was completed in August of 1888. It was a gala day for those of southwest Kansas. The depression crushed the early hopes that Soule and the founding Presbyterians had for a college that would be the "Harvard of the West." In 1903, the college was sold to the Methodist congregation, which operated the institution until it was closed in the early 1900s.
In 1912, Bishop
John J. Hennessy visited Dodge City and toured the idle campus. He quickly
bought the land, administration and the dormitory for $8,500. When the
bishop first asked Mother Aloysia Keleher of the Sisters of St. Joseph
in Wichita to take over the school as an academy for girls, she hesitated
because she doubted the population could support a boarding school. But
in 1913, on another visit, Bishop Hennessy wired her from Dodge City with
this message: "I am in Dodge City and I am going to stay here until you
send Sisters out to take over the school." Mother Aloysia made immediate
arrangements to put the Academy into operation.
On September 9, 1913, the institution known as Saint Mary of the Plains Academy, named by Bishop Hennessy himself, was opened for both grade school and high school students. Day students from Dodge City attended the Academy grade school until 1917 when Sacred Heart School opened.
Despite difficult times, the Academy continued throughout the depresssion years, operating sometimes at full capacity until May 10, 1942. It was this day that is probably the most memorable day for many students and many Dodge City citizens, for this day was to be the Academy's last.
On that Sunday, the Sisters and the students were observing world-wide sodality day. A living rosary of the students and faculty had been formed around the statue of Our Lady of the Plains in front of the school. The ceremony continued in the chapel with the May crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Shortly after these ceremonies were complete, at 7:45 p.m., a tornado struck the campus, destroying the buildings. It must certainly be considered a miracle that no one was killed in this disaster.
With buildings beyond repair and wartime restrictions that prevented new construction, the Sisters faced a great challenge. Encouraged by alumnae as well as Bishop Christian H. Winkelmann and his successor, Bishop Mark Carroll, the Sisters moved ahead with plans to rebuild. A new Superior, Mother Mary Anne McNamara (a nurse who had been stationed at Dodge City's St. Anthony Hospital) and such notables as Sister Linus Gleason adopted the goal of building an educational institution that would serve both high school and college students. At groundbreaking ceremonies with Msgr. Joseph Grellner and Mother Mary Anne on September 24, 1950, officials announced a goal of occupancy by September, 1952.
On September 14, 1952, Bishop John Baptist Franz's first official act was participaion in the laying of the cornerstone ceremonies at the new Saint Mary of the Plains. The construction, of modern design, was a four-story building of salmon-colored brick trimmed with harmonizing cut stone and aluminum. The chapel wing on the west featured a campanile rising 115 feet from a base relief stone sculpture of the Holy Family at its base.
Throughout the construction of the building, the Sisters never gave up hope that the school would start on September 15, 1952. And, although the interior of the building was not yet finished, St. Mary of the Plains began operating as a high school and college on the day assigned. The college started as a two-year school, but added a year to the cirriculum for the next two years so that by 1954, Saint Mary of the Plains College was a four-year institution.
Since that
time, Saint Mary of the Plains underwent changes in both appearance and
purpose. In 1969, due to an expanding college enrollment and due to college
accredidation, Saint Mary of the Plains High School closed. The physical
plant at that time consisted of Hennessy Hall, the original structure;
four dormitories: Medaille Hall (1965), Roncalli Hall (1965), Keleher Hall
(1967), and Robert F. Kennedy Hall (1969); and the Sheridan Activity Center
(1969).
SMPC was a "Christian Community of Scholars" from which well-educated young men and women graduated, serving as living memorials to the sacrifices of sisters, priests and lay teachers.
In 1992, the college closed, and the property was leased to the City of Dodge City. In 1997, Medaille Hall was sold to Arrowhead West, and in October of 1998, their new facility was dedicated. Sheridan Activity Center is home to the Dodge City Parks and Recreation Department. Hennessy Hall houses many agencies, and is once again the site of institute of higher learning, Newman University's Western Center.