Atlanta Catholic Centennial

In 1874 the Sisters of Mercy established a day school for boys on East Mitchell Street in the block opposite the present Atlanta City Hall building. This school was conducted in a four-room rented house that stood just to the rear of the old Second Baptist Church at Mitchell and Washington Streets. The school building faced Mitchell Street.

This school was opened in 1874. Sister M. Regis, Sister M. Frances and Sister M. Rose were the first teachers. Sister M. Rose is the only one of the three who is still in this world. She is stationed at St. Vincent's Academy in Savannah, Georgia. Sister M. Elizabeth, who celebrated her diamond jubilee as a Sister of Mercy on October 2, 1937, taught in this school in 1875, 1876 and 1877. This school for boys was conducted on Mitchell Street up until 1885.

From 1885 until 1889 the Boys’ School was conducted by the Sisters of Mercy in the basement of the present Immaculate Conception Church building. The teachers were Sister M. Bonaventure, Sister M. Mechtilde and Sister M. Athanasius. All of these Sisters have departed this life.

About this time some of the hardy pioneer qualities of Atlanta Catholics must have begun to be dissipated by the conveniences of a metropolitan city. The school children's parents began to complain that a basement was an inappropriate place to conduct a school, so the school was closed in 1889. Sister M. Rose, at that time Superior of the Immaculate Conception Convent, made several attempts to secure a building that would be suitable for a school, but received little encouragement or co-operation, so the project was abandoned, much to the regret of those interested in Catholic education.