Saint Jerome’s Institute opened in 1872 as the first boys’ school ever in the old Springfield Diocese. It was a three floor structure. In the beginning it served not only as a school but also as a chapel for the church.
The Sisters of Providence were recruited in 1875 to teach there replacing Grace Harkins – sister of the pastor. They lived in nearby homes until 1890 when the Convent of Saint Vincent de Paul was built. The second and third floors were gutted and replaced with an auditorium (which doubled as a gym) in 1943. Depending upon which floor one was talking about it was called the Saint Jerome’s Institute or the Saint Jerome’s Gymnasium.
Immaculate Conception of Notre Dame School in Holyoke
Lastly is the Notre Dame School. Built in 1883 as a girls’ school, it continued to expand for years. By 1895 some high school classes had been added. In 1910 the Saint Jerome High School opened within the building. There were no graduate until June of 1913. An important change at the school caused this. In 1912 the Sisters of Saint Joseph took over at all the Saint Jerome Schools. They were devoted to education unlike the other group of nuns. Thus they were better teachers and the students learned more. The main convent was also renamed and the second convent was turned into administrative offices and classrooms. Notice its formal name above the doorway: School of the Immaculate Conception of Notre Dame de Lourdes. This might be the longest name in Holyoke. In September of 1916 there was the first coed school on campus since the high school became a combined gender school. Finally, in 1923 the schools were all renamed Saint Jerome School and High School and all became coed.
This Saint Jerome School would have sports teams and their nickname would be the Jerries.
In 1963 Holyoke Catholic High School would form from the union of three Catholic high schools around the city – the oldest Sacred Heart, the Rosary, and then St Jerome. They would meet in this building. St Jerome School was disbanded and students would go to Sacred Heart School. This merger into Holyoke Catholic High School was helped along by the 1947 merger of the three schools into one athletic team. Rosary High School was the oldest sports teams at 1910, Saint Jerome started its sports program in 1916, and Sacred Heart in 1920.
As an aside the school population of each high school in 1950 was Sacred Heart – 194, St Jerome – 187, and Rosary – 157.
Saint Jerome Cemetery was expanded in 1904 from its original expanse along Saint Jerome Avenue to include all land to Northampton Street. Father Harkins, his parents, his brother Daniel, and his two sisters Grace and Catherine are buried in the same family plot. It is located along the only north-south crossing road.
Saint Jerome Temperance Hall was located along Maple Street. The group was founded in 1857. The group is called Saint Jerome Total Abstinence Mutual, Benevolent, and Literary Society. Earlier it had been called the Holyoke Catholic Mutual Benevolent Society. The hall had a musical group, a library, and more. The hall was made in 1868 and Father Harkins was made the spiritual head.
The Father Harkins Home for Elderly Women was at first in the former rectory. Then in 1898 a brick building was constructed along Elm Street for them. The Beavan Home for Men was start at Ingleside in 1893. (The men would get a new building there in 1907.) The Father Harkins Home for Elderly Women was built solely with money from the priest’s savings. From 1895 to 1898 the women stayed at the Mount St Vincent house until this home was readied.
Patrick Harkins and his entire family was involved in the growth of the St Jerome’s Parish. My thought is that his family was also contributing to the financial development of the parish.
This convent was the second one built on this campus and they both still exist. It was first made for the Sisters of Providence in 1890 and then in 1912 housed the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
Saint Patrick’s Chapel was built in 1899 as an attachment to the Saint Jerome Church. As mentioned at the last stop (4), the Notre Dame Convent has a chapel attached to its back named the Saint Joseph’s Chapel for Nuns. There once was an alleyway through the Saint Jerome block but the church chapel blocked that. There is a third chapel in the back of the church proper.
The first school on the campus was the Notre Dame School. The teachers were the Notre Dame nuns and a convent was built for them that year of 1869 when the school opened. The convent remains the oldest structure on the Holyoke campus of St Jerome’s.
The school was a wooden home that was moved from Elm Street to Hampden Street. This was the second girls’ school in the old Springfield Diocese (Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire). The first girls’ school was at Holy Name of Jesus in Chicopee. A nun’s chapel was added in 1872 to the back of the convent. This wooden structure was replaced in 1883 with the brick school Immaculate Conception of the Notre Dame of Lourdes. The wooden school was moved to Worcester Place and lasted until 1980.
Jeremiah O’Callaghan was the first priest and when he died the next year he was buried alongside the east wall of the young church. He was the first priest buried alongside his church in Holyoke. Father Michael Howard was buried alongside Rosary Church and Father Andre Dufresne was buried alongside the Precious Blood Church. Father Sullivan served for 5 years and started Saint Jerome Cemetery. Then came the Builder – Father Patrick Joseph Harkins. He started many institutions and had built many structures.
Saint Jerome Church was rebuilt in 1885 since the Irish population of Holyoke had expanded greatly. The front half was retained but the back half was widen and lengthened. This church was burnt in 1934 and rebuilt the next year. The plan was the same but new materials were used except for the bell. The only visible change was the removal of the clock faces in the steeple.
Saint Jerome Church started in 1856 as a parish. A parish is the congregation that meets together for worship. Some of the early masses were celebrated at the Exchange Hall and some outdoors. Before 1856 the Catholics went to St Matthews Church in Chicopee. At times the priest came to Holyoke and mass would be held in private homes, outdoors, and at the Dam House. The first church was finished and dedicated in 1860.
Click on the link above to read about this stop. (LOCATION) The South Hadley Canal is the first canal for navigation on the continent. The only competitor to this claim is the Carondelet Canal. This canal was made in 1794 from Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana to the Bayou Street Juncture in New Orleans. A two mile canal was dug at first at 15 feet wide. There was no locks on the system. The canal might have been used first in December of that year. The South Hadley Canal might have also been used in December of that year. The Carondelet was not in the territory of the United States yet. Thus the South Hadley Canal beats the Carondelet Canal in two aspects that of being within the United States has it was defined in 1794 and also in that it had a lifting mechanism.
The South Hadley Canal is one of six navigation canals along the Connecticut River. Read about this incredible system at the LINK.
The Carew Paper Mill was here from June 19 1848. The old navigation canal was redone so that it was both at the same time a navigation canal and a power canal. In 1873 their mill burned but it was rebuilt. The Carew lasted as a company until 1948. Texon took it over and they kept the building open until 1986.
Between Texon Park and Lower Riverside Park there was the Hampshire Paper Mill. This was built alongside the Carew in 1864. It lasted until 1935 when it finally closed. The Stevens Paper Mill moved into this mill in 1940 and kept it until 1968 when it razed the building two years later. A plan of the Stevens is HERE.
The original Catholic orphanages were in the downtown Holyoke area. When the Sisters of Charity nuns arrived in 1873 from Ontario they were teachers and ran a tiny orphanage. The first one was in the Providence Hospital in South Hadley that had been used as a hospital for one year and then as an orphanage for a year. The orphanage was then moved to a house in Holyoke for about a year. Then it was moved into the top floor of the Providence Hospital for a year. Then into the second floor of the Saint Jerome Institute (on Hampden Street) for a few years. Finally, in 1880, into the Ingleside area at the Mount Saint Vincent Asylum.
Brightside was the name of a farm along the West Springfield and Holyoke border. That name Brightside was the name taken on by the orphanage for boys. Its formal name was Holy Family Institute at Brightside. Most people then and now call it Brightside. Brightside was owned by Warren Wilkinson. When he died in 1892 the bishop purchased the property and land (123 acres in all) in order to build an orphanage.
The boys orphanage stayed at this location until 1954 when they moved a quarter mile to the south into a newly built Brightside homes. From 1954 to 1991 it was called the Sisters of Providence Children’s Home and was for both boys and girls. Then the name was changed back in 1991 and then Brightside closed in 2009. Adjacent to Brightside housing was their school and administration. This is now the new Hillside Residence is a 34-unit affordable elderly housing facility and also the refurbished de Paul Center which was the school. The entire campus is called the Hillside at Providence.
Between the motherhouse and Brightside is a new place called Mary’s Meadow (IMAGE) and it opened in 2005. It is a 40-bed, small house concept skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility.
The Sisters of Providence of St Vincent de Paul served in many locations around the Connecticut River Valley. When they served an institution they would have a convent nearby to house themselves. This was a decent arrangement but having a motherhouse was better. In 1932 they finally had a motherhouse built for themselves. It is located down Gamelin Road in the Brightside neighborhood. Near the corner of their Brightside motherhouse there was erected a statuefor Catherine Horan who was the first mother superior for the Holyoke order.
You met her back at the Calvary Cemetery for the Sisters of Providence. Great woman with a fitting memorial for her. Their motherhouse is now called Providence Place at Ingleside.
The base of the statue reads:
“… from the hilltop I view the progress the tiny seed has made under the protection of Divine Providence.”
The Sisters of Providence Chapel is very beautiful. It is named the Mother of Sorrows Chapel. The CHAPEL can be seen in all its glory at this LINK. It was finished in 1933. The chapel has a Skinner Organ.
The Sisters of Providence nuns also ran the Mercy Hospital in Springfield, the Farren Memorial Hospital in Montague, the St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, and St. Luke’s Hospital in Pittsfield.
