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Saint Augustine at Eagle Park
At Eagle Park
in The Beautiful Hudson Valley
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St. Augustine School
A History Of St. Augustine SchoolAccording to newspaper articles on file at the Ossining Historical Society, St. Augustine Parish has been involved in the education of Catholic children for more than a century. The involvement began in the late 1860's when a school was established by the pastor, Father William McClellan. Father McClellan served as a professor of Greek at St. John's College for several years and collected about 4,000 volumes for his own theological library. The school was erected on the property located in the back of the church on North Highland Avenue. By arrangement with the Ossining Board of Education, this school was converted into a public school and was attended by 125 students. The first principal was male and two female teachers were lay people. St. Augustine Church began its parochial school, independent of secular influence, in 1892. The sisters of charity taught the classes. They lived in a frame house on Elizabeth Street and drove a horse and buggy to school. One long time parishioner recalls: "It was a typical 'little red school house,' built mainly of wood. The floors consisted of wide boards. On the first floor as you entered, was a large spacious room with wood floor. To reach the second floor you climbed a slanting wooden, bump and rickety staircase leading to a porch which was more slanted than the floors. There were four classrooms, two up and two down. Many times in the winter the heat would not come on. On severely cold days the children would be sent home." Another parishioner, a student in the 1920's, recalls praying that it would rain because the roof leaked so badly that during heavy rains, the school would b closed and the children sent home. How ever, in spite of the leaky roof and the praying-for-rain children, student population ran over 200 children, and the building was used as a school for more than a quarter of a century. In 1925, during the pastorship of Dr. Cornelius V. Mahoney, a new school was built. It was dedicated in 1926 by Patrick Cardinal Hayes. To commemorate this event there was an all-student procession originating from the little school house in back of the church and crossing North Highland Avenue to the new school opposite the Church. Although only a few records of the new school's construction exist it is the new school's constructor was Louis Kiel and that the original brick structure contained six classrooms, a principal's office, a nurse's room, an auditorium and a gymnasium. In the 1920s only four of the rooms were used as classrooms with two grades per room. One of the remaining rooms was used as a school store. The school gymnasium became the site of a popular basketball league started by Father Barrett. Admission to the well attended Tuesday and Thursday games was twenty-five cents. Father Barrett was also a baseball fan and is fondly remembered by one parishioner recalls warm spring days when many students would spend an extended lunch hour down at the Aqueduct until the nuns sent Officer Harry Keenan to corral them and get them back to class. In 1942, the Sisters of Charity left St. Augustine to concentrate their teaching and nursing ministries in New York City. Taking their place at St. Augustine were the nuns from the teaching order of the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of Springs, Columbus, Ohio. In 1958, Monsignor John M. Costello, Pastor, began an expansion program in response to the post-war growth in student enrollment. The number of classrooms was increased to 16 and a new auditorium/gymnasium was added. A 1960 newspaper article reports an enrollment of 590 students. In the late 1970s, when the Department of Transportation of the State of New York began expansion work on Route 9, the decision to move to Eagle Park was made. Successful negotiations with the State resulted in the sale of the North Highland Avenue Property and St. Augustine Parish purchased from the Dominican Sisters the former Mary Immaculate School, a 25 acre site about one mile north of the original church on Route 9. The buildings included a large school building, complete with a chapel, a multi-purpose room and an outdoor swimming pool. Although students population declined in the 1970s, reflecting the general drop in school enrollment, it has increased steadily over the last few years, Sister Mary Elizabeth Donoghue, Principal, says that registration for the 1989-90 academic year, pre-K through grade 8 , is close to 500. Growth in parish is one reason for the rising enrollment and the school's reputation for academic excellence and the enhanced curricular programs are strong factors in its growth. The well-rounded, diversified program includes a foreign language elective for upper grades, computer instruction, physical education and sprots, library and music instruction. The educational program also includes religious instruction for our children who attend public schools. St. Augustine Parish has a long history of commitment to Catholic education. While the school has come a long way from its "little red school house" days, the spirit of commitment remains strong and promises to guide the school during its second century.
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| We wish to thank the following parishioners
who researched, wrote and edited the articles detailing the history of our
parish, selected photographs and, in so many ways, assisted in the preparation
of the journal this history was copied from: Frank Cavanaugh · Edward Cullen · Linda Herman · Dorothy Houlihan · Mary Jeanne LaRose · Tina Mayas Clare McGarry · Sandi Pascucci Special thanks to Roberta Arminio of The Ossining Historical Society for her enthusiastic and kind assistance, to Case-Hoyt Corp. and Corporate Disribution Limited for their help. We thank our advertisers and the parishioners who gave so generously of their time to solicit ads. Our gratitude also to Father McCormick, Father Duff and Monsignor Moore for their encouragement and support. THE JOURNAL COMMITTEE Marie Burke · John Hayes · Joe Taxiera Material dealing with the early history of Saint Augustine Parish is based on a paper entitled "The Catholics in Ossining Prior to 1903" prepared in 1950 by M. Margaret Volker at the request of the Ossining Historical Society and to articles from The Daily Register. |
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