St Joseph High School

Story

St. Joseph Elementary and High School, in Plaucheville, Louisiana, is the only Catholic high school within the civil parish of Avoyelles. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana.HistoryIn 1899, Father J.B. Limagne, Pastor of the Catholic Church in Plaucheville, petitioned Reverend Mother Florence, Superior General of the Sisters of Divine Providence, to send some sisters to his recently completed school. Three Sisters arrived in August and in September they opened the new school with ninety pupils. The school building was a two-story structure with four classrooms, a music room, and apartments for the Sisters. There were accommodations for boarders also.Each successive Monday brought new students, and by Christmas, the teaching staff had increased to five. Because the teachers were obliged to teach in one room all at the same time, new accommodations had to be found. A hall containing two classrooms was built next to the church.On Sunday, March 6, 1905 while the Sisters attended Mass, fire broke out at the school. Almost everything was destroyed. Father Limagne was determined that the Sisters remain. He offered his residence to them, and classes continued in the rectory and parish hall. Without delay, the Sisters purchased property for $275.00 on which the present St. Joseph High School was erected. A notation in the archives of the Congregation states, "the building was replaced at our expense amounting to $5,978.69."Until 1908 the school offered only elementary grades; in 1920 the high school was established. The school was also changed from a pay school to a parochial school, operating on a tuition and procedure basis. In 1926, St. Joseph High School was established as a Louisiana High School by the Louisiana State Board of Education.