Search
HISTORY
-
Our School HistoryThe opening of St. Patrick School in the fall of 1959, brought to fruition the dreams of many Catholic families. St. Patrick Parish had been established in 1881 with the installation of Fr. Tomas J. Lynch. By 1950, the Catholic population in Gainesville had grown to a point where Fr. William Balfe identified a need for a school. Parishioners supplied the $5000 needed to purchase the 5 acres on which the school now stands. In 1956, Fr. Thomas R. Gross was named pastor, and he took on the task of building the school.
When classes began in 1959 with an enrollment of 80 students, the Sisters of St. Joseph in St. Augustine provided three nuns including Sr. Mary Gemma, who served as the first principal. The first six months were spent in three cottages behind St. Augustine Church. The school moved into its new and current home on March 14, 1960. At that time, St. Patrick Church was located on Northeast First Street in downtown Gainesville. The parish did not move the Sanctuary adjacent to the school into what is now the social hall until 1965.
When St. Patrick School opened, it was in the Catholic tradition which called for a school in every parish. Gainesville's second parish, St. Augustine, began as a ministry to the Catholic students at the University of Florida in 1922 and did not become a parish until 1968. At that time there were not enough young children in that parish to even consider establishing a parish school. When St. Patrick Parish was split in 1973 to allow for the establishment of Holy Faith Parish in Northwest Gainesville, parishioners were encouraged to send their children to St. Patrick Catholic School, and the interparish tradition continues to this day.
As enrollment grew, it became necessary to add on to the original building. In 1988, the school increased the size of the library and school office and created two new classrooms to house the kindergarten program. With this increase in space, a second kindergarten program was begun. This was accompanied by a plan to add a second class for each grade, each year, as the second kindergarten class advanced. In 1989, that meant a new portable, in 1990 a second one; two more followed in 1992 and fifth and sixth in 1994.
In 1994 construction began on a new facility to house the middle school classrooms, a lunchroom and kitchen, technology and science labs, a gymnasium, a parish meeting room, and offices for parish youth and CCD ministries. The addition was completed at a cost in excess of $1,500,000 and dedicated September 24, 1995.
While 1991 marked the departure of the last remaining sister of the Sisters of St. Joseph, the principal, Sr. Mary Eleanor Callaghan, the fall saw the school open with its first lay principal, Mrs. Elaine Baumgartner.
St. Patrick School has been a fixture in the Gainesville community for the last 65 years, providing a quality, Christ-centered education. Our focus on the three R’s - Religion, Respect, Responsibility - guide us in creating a thriving, nurturing school community where children can grow in their Catholic faith.