History of Holy Name Catholic High School and Grade School
St. Joseph High School – Predecessor to Holy Name High School
Before the opening of Holy Name High School, and subsequently, Holy Name Central Grade School, St. Joseph High School was the only faith-based high school in Escanaba. St. Joseph’s High School (SJHS), which opened in the 1884 school year, was located on the 700 block of First Avenue South in Escanaba (where the west parking lot of St. Joseph’s & St. Patrick’s Church is currently located). Near the end of its existence, St. Joseph High School was still thriving, enrolling 213 students in Delta County in 1952; however, SJHS closed in 1954.
Documents from the early 1950s demonstrated the need for a larger Catholic high school than St. Joseph’s could provide. According to “The Door To Christian Education: Your Hand Holds The Key” fundraising portfolio, which contains the original plans and blueprints for the then-potential Catholic Central High School for the Delta County area, “…its [St. Joseph High School’s] facilities are taxed to the utmost in training even this small portion of the total number of youngsters who yearly clamor for that Catholic Education which is their rightful heritage.”
Campaign to raise $500,000 for original Holy Name High School
The following excerpt from “The Door To Christian Education: Your Hand Holds The Key” further confirmed the need for a larger Catholic high school: “To serve adequately the needs of the Catholic children of high school age in this region, a central high school must be constructed to accommodate at least 600 students. The cost of such a school will be $1,100,000. This is the minimum amount which is needed. But half the battle already is won. The late Mrs. Catherine Bonifas bequeathed $600,000 for construction of such a school in Escanaba. This gesture of generosity means that the Catholic people of this area will be asked to give only half the cost of the school — which in reality is their total responsibility. Therefore, an all-out campaign to provide a minimum of $500,000 has been launched to erect a Catholic Central High School to serve the Catholic children of this area.”
Fundraising Goal Met: HNHS opens in 1954
The fundraising goal was met, and Holy Name Catholic Central High School first opened in Fall 1954, with an enrollment of 438 students. The Rev. O’Neil D’Amour of Wells came to Holy Name High School as superintendent and to organize the new school. Then, in 1955, the Reverend Aloysius J. Hasenberg (who was also chaplain of St. Francis Hospital at the time) was appointed administrator of Holy Name High School by the Most Reverend Thomas L. Noa, D.D., Ph.D., then-bishop of the Diocese of Marquette.
Holy Name High School Students received top-notch education from Christian Brothers, Sisters, Priests and Secular lay instructors.
The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the Adrian Dominican Sisters, the Christian Brothers of the St. Louis Province, along with area priests and secular lay instructors, all taught at Holy Name High School.
Sister M. Benedette of the School Sisters was principal of the ‘girls’ department,’ while Brother Athanasius of the Christian Brothers was principal of the ‘boys’ department’. (Boys and girls were grouped in classes apart from each other.)
A 1954 article written about Holy Name High School showed the community’s pride for the new high school. The following is an excerpt from an article entitled: St. Louis Brothers Begin Work in Escanaba, Michigan: …“Holy Name High School is a comprehensive secondary educational institution, presenting the strong academic, vocational and cultural programs so characteristic of Catholic schools. Journalism, dramatics and athletics play important roles in its activities. A very large gymnasium, one of the most capacious in the Upper Peninsula, with a seating capacity in excess of 2,100, affords splendid opportunity for a worthwhile physical education program…”
The high school served the communities of Escanaba, Gladstone, Flat Rock, Perronville, Schaffer, Bark River, Spalding, Rapid River, Garden, Fayette, Perkins and Cornell, and even more small towns as far out as Arnold (in Marquette County) over the years. The school continued to grow in enrollment as the years passed. For example, according to a Sept. 7, 1955 Daily Press news article, enrollment at HNHS was slightly over 500 in 1955. According to the article, enrollment increased in all four grades, with the largest increase in the freshman class, which had an enrollment of 153, and a sophomore class of 143 students for the 1955-56 school year.
Parochial education was widespread in the Escanaba area at the time, as Escanaba also had four parochial grade schools at the parishes of St. Anne, St. Joseph, St. Patrick, and St. Thomas. (St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wells, which was built in 1955 and dedicated in December 1955, did not have a grade school.)
Enrollment at the four parochial schools totaled 1,182 in 1955, according to the Sept. 7, 1955 Daily Press article (enrollment broken down: St. Anne’s: 249; St. Joseph’s—403; St. Patrick’s—370; St. Thomas—160.) HNHS was the central high school for these Escanaba area Catholic parishes at that time. (In 1997, the parishes of St. Joseph & St. Patrick were combined into one.)
Closing of HNHS leads to opening of Holy Name Central Grade School in 1971
The Catholic grade schools and Holy Name High School closed in 1971, largely due to the passage of Proposal C (based on the Blaine Amendment), which prohibited direct government funding of non-public/religious education. This led to the opening of Holy Name Central Grade School, with a tuition-based model. Since 1971, Holy Name Central Grade School has offered a high quality, faith-based education for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Holy Name Catholic School now thriving and thankful for support of families and four subsidizing parishes
To reflect its commitment to Catholic education, the school changed its name to Holy Name Catholic School during the 2008-2009 school year.
Over the decades, the Holy Name Catholic School building has undergone extensive renovations, including a new roof, new lockers, new state-of-the-art science lab, new tile flooring in the school Chapel, a complete refinishing of the gymnasium floor (including painting of new Crusader logo), along with new bathrooms and water fountains. In 2018-2019, an extensive renovation to the school’s multi-purpose room was completed. The multi-purpose room now features a beautiful new cultured stone backdrop to the San Damiano Cross that hangs behind the altar, beautifying the room where weekly all-school Masses are celebrated. Most recently, renovations to many of the classrooms were completed, including new custom wood cabinets, ceiling tiles and light fixtures, some new flooring, along with new carpeting and furniture in the school entryway. In addition, Holy Name was able to install new playground equipment, thanks to the generosity of its many donors.
The school’s commitment to offering a high-quality Catholic education for area children remains strong, with Holy Name now also offering preschool. Holy Name is able to offer this education to area children thanks to the support of area families and the generosity of the four local subsidizing parishes of St. Anne, St. Joseph & St. Patrick, St. Thomas the Apostle and St. Anthony of Padua. As of 2024, Holy Name Catholic School’s total enrollment is 219 students in preschool through 12th grade.
The school recently added Latin to its curriculum, for students in third through sixth grade, and was expanded to include seventh and eighth grades in the 2018-19 school year. HNCS also offers students numerous extra-curricular activities, along with before and after-school care. The Catholic faith is still taught in every grade at Holy Name Catholic School, and Catholicism permeates the entire HNCS curriculum, offering students a valuable opportunity to learn about their faith.
Holy Name High School Re-Opened in Fall 2021
The success of this Classical curriculum in the elementary school has laid a strong foundation for the future of Catholic education in the Upper Peninsula, which includes a centrally-located Classical Catholic high school to serve students in the Central U.P.
Though the Diocese of Marquette Catholic schools are geographically remote – nestled among the forests of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – Holy Name Catholic School opened Holy Name High School—A Chesterton Academy—the only Catholic high school in the U.P. HNHS re-opened in Fall 2021—fifty years after it closed in 1971.
Holy Name High School—A Chesterton Academy is located just a few blocks from the elementary building—adjacent to St. Anne’s Catholic Church at 2203 7th Ave. South, Escanaba. Students at HNHS begin every school day with Mass at St. Anne’s, followed by a full schedule of cohesive, content-rich courses, including Literature, History, Mathematics/Euclidean Geometry, Science, Writing, Philosophy, Theology, Spanish and Debate, along with Fine Arts classes in Art, Drama and Music. Each year builds on the previous, so that by the end of senior year, our students are articulate, clear-thinking, well-rounded, and very importantly, joyful individuals.
School leaders trusted that the Lord would provide the means to make the high school a reality, and were blessed with financial support from many generous donors. With the continued support and leadership of Bishop John Doerfler, our Diocesan Schools Superintendent, Dr. Jessica Betz, and the local community, we are confident that Holy Name High School and Holy Name Catholic School will thrive into the future.
“We trust that this is the Lord’s plan and He will touch people’s hearts in keeping their support for our high school,” said Deacon Bob Berbohm, Catholic Faith teacher at Holy Name. “As faithful Catholics, we ask for your prayers for our school. God has shown us every step of the way thus far and we trust Him to continue providing us with the financial support we need to keep our school thriving.”
For more information on Holy Name, or to financially support the school, please visit holynamecrusaders.com. To view a copy of the foundations document of the curriculum, visit www.dioceseofmarquette.org/catholicschools and click on the link at the bottom of the page.
-Researched and written by Victoria LaFave
