Welcome To The Ste. Genevieve Academy
- 1808 First School West of the Mississippi
- 1819 First Christian Brothers School
Plan your visit
- Admission
- Free
- When
- Year round, by appointment
- Who
- Individuals and groups
- Where
- 201 N 5th St
Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670Corner of Fifth and Washington Streets
The building
ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Ste. Genevieve Academy in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, enjoys a wealth of documentary evidence, which far surpasses that of any other contributing property contained within the Ste. Genevieve National Historic Landmark District. The early French settlers of the town, led by their cosmopolitan Irish pastor, maintained a detailed journal, which outlined the activities of the Academy's Trustees. Rediscovered in 1995, this journal describes the activities of the Academy's directors from its early planning stages in 1807 through the construction, operation, and the final closing of the school in 1861.
"The Academy is one of Missouri's most distinguished buildings, both architecturally and historically”
– Booker Rucker, former Chief Historian of the Missouri State Park System
SOME PICTURES OF THE ACADEMY
Photographs of the house today, a painting, a period engraving, a woodcut, and one of the Academy's own printed broadsides.
What you will hear on the tour
- 1808 Stone “salvaged on flatboats from the ruins of Fort de Chartres”
- 1810 “English, French, Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Arithmetic, Surveying, Logic, Metaphysics…”
- 1819 “The first school operated by the Christian Brothers in the United States”
- 1861 “The Academy forever closed its doors as an institution of higher learning”
- 2005 “Once again being used as a family home”