Part of the legacy of the James J. Hill House on Summit Avenue in St. Paul has been providing space for educational purposes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
James J. Hill’s wife, Mary Meaghan Hill, was the last member of the family to live in the Hill family’s opulent 36,000-square-foot mansion at 240 Summit Avenue. When she died in 1921, she had no will, and an equal share of her estate passed to each of her children.
The house was not easily divided, so it was put on the auction block, and four of the Hill daughters bought it and donated it to the Archdiocese of St. Paul to be used as an educational institution.
Meanwhile, the Catholic sisters who taught thousands of young Minnesotans were dealing with a different problem. Increasingly, teachers were required to be licensed through the state, but the state made it impossible for sisters to complete licensing requirements because they were not allowed to teach in demonstration schools while wearing their habits. Between 1905 and 1925, the Colleges of St. Catherine (in St. Paul), St. Teresa (in Winona), St. Benedict (in St. Joseph) and St. Scholastica (in Duluth) all sprang up, in part to help solve this problem. When the St. Paul Diocesan Teachers College first opened in January 1927, it was intended to help, too.
Initially, the Diocesan Teachers College offered classes on Saturdays in the winter and during the summer term for up to 350 students at a time. Sisters completed 100 quarter credits in religion, psychology and classroom subjects to graduate from its “two-year” program, which met state licensure requirements. Of course, many sisters took many more than two years to complete the program, which they squeezed in among their many other duties.
Those who attended during the summer enjoyed eating the lunches they brought or purchased outside while they admired the view of St. Paul. On colder days, students gathered in the basement lunchroom. Meanwhile, the Hills’ main floor dining room had been turned into a chapel for daily Mass and adoration, and the library was reorganized with teaching texts and a table that seated 30 people. On the second and third floors, bedrooms were used as classrooms, and when classes for teachers were not in session, the Notre Dame School for the hearing impaired shared the space.
While some servants’ rooms were used as residences for students, many orders who sent students from farther away purchased mansions along Summit Avenue for their sisters. The Benedictines established St. Paul’s Priory at 301 Summit Avenue (now the Germanic-American Institute). The School Sisters of Notre Dame (261 and 265 Summit), Sisters of St. Benedict (239 and 378 Summit) and Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls (365 Summit) also lived nearby and joined Dominicans, Felicians, Oblate Sisters of Providence, Presentation Sisters, Servites, Sisters of Christian Charity, Sisters of Loretto, Sisters of Mercy and Sisters of St. Joseph in the classrooms as both students and teachers.
Initially, the school served only women religious, but like many other aspects of the school, that changed in the 1940s. In 1946, laywomen were admitted for the first time, the school began to offer courses on weekdays year-round, and tuition became free for any woman, lay or religious, who planned to teach in the archdiocese. After the State of Minnesota began requiring a bachelor’s degree for teacher licensure, the Diocesan Teachers College affiliated with the College of St. Catherine. Between 1951 and 1957, students completed the first two years of their education at the Hill House before finishing their degrees at the College of St. Catherine. While all classes were moved out of the Hill House in 1957, it remained home to the Archdiocesan Bureau of Education until 1977, before the mansion was sold to the Minnesota Historical Society in 1978.
Luiken is a Catholic and a historian with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She loves exploring and sharing the hidden histories that touch our lives every day.
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