Site of Academy of the Incarnate Word
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First permanent Catholic school in Houston. Established by Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, a religious order founded 1625 in Lyons, France. In 1852, at request of the first bishop of Texas, the Rt. Rev. John M. Odin, the order entered the United States to engage in religious education. The sisters opened their first school in Brownsville in 1853; second in Victoria, 1866; and the third here. Mother M. Gabriel Dillon and two sisters came to Houston in 1873 at request of the Rev. Joseph Querat, to begin teaching young girls in temporary quarters at the old Franciscan monastery on Franklin. By Jan. 3, 1874, their own 3-story edifice was finished. Facing Crawford, it had a courtyard bounded by Capitol and Jackson. Boarding facilities opened in a few months. A State of Texas charter empowered the academy to issue diplomas, beginning in 1878. In 1899, the Exhibition Hall (auditorium) was built. To accommodate growth, another 3-story structure was added, 1905. Original building was replaced in 1948. 200 to 300 pupils annually have learned devotions, arts, and sciences under dedicated tutelage of the sisters, who have watched Houston grow from a small, muddy town into a city of cosmopolitan culture. (1973) (see additional data on back) Principals - Mother M. Gabriel Dillon 1873-1895 Mother M. Magdalen Hickey 1895-1905; 1908-1917 Mother M. Gertrude Binning 1905-1908; 1917-1923 Mother M. Scholastica Cantwell 1923-1926 Sister M. Stanislaus Comerford 1926-1930 Mother M. Angelique O'Mahoney 1930-1932 Sister M. Monica O'Conner 1932-1946 Sister M. Agatha Sheehan 1946-1947 Sister M. Sebastian McHugh 1947-1950 Sister M. Joan Neilon 1950-1951 Sister James Philip Davison 1951-1964 Sister Jean Marie Guokas 1964- . Superiors - Mother M. Gabriel Dillon 1873-1895 Mother M. Magdalen Hickey 1895-1905; 1908-1917 Mother M. Gertrude Binning 1905-1908; 1917-1923; 1926-1929 Mother M. Scholastica Cantwell 1923-1926; 1929-1935; 1941-1944 Mother M. Angelique O'Mahoney 1935-1941; 1944-1950 Mother M. Sebastian McHugh 1950-1960 Sister M. Joseph Fluellen 1960-
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Houston's first permanent Catholic school opened here in 1873, when Mother M. Gabriel Dillon and two Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament came at a local priest's request to teach young girls. Within months they had a three-story building, and a state charter soon empowered the academy to grant diplomas, educating hundreds of pupils a year as Houston grew from a muddy town into a city.
Why it matters
It marks the arrival of institutional education for girls in frontier Houston, carried by a French teaching order whose sisters shaped generations of the city's women.
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Related people
- · Mother M. Gabriel Dillon
- · Bishop John M. Odin
- · Rev. Joseph Querat
Themes & tags
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