St. Thomas High School
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established 1900 as St. Thomas College, and housed that year in a former Franciscan monastery built in 1861 at Franklin Avenue and Caroline Street. The founders were the Rev. Nicholas Roche, C. S. B., and two other Basilian fathers. (Their order originated in France in 1822 and expanded into Canada in 1850; the Basilians in Houston were the first in Texas.) When original school suffered hurricane damage, the fathers relocated at Capitol and Main. In 1903 permanency was assured when Father Roche bought a block of land at Austin and Hadley and constructed Houston's first college preparatory school for boys. Thanks to the foresight of a native Texan, the Rev. T. P. O'Rourke, C. S. B., educator and author, St. Thomas High School in 1940 moved to this site on the bank of Buffalo Bayou. Father A. L. Higgins directed the building of the new plant, which has expanded in later years. During Houston's 20th century growth into a focus of world culture, St. Thomas High School has trained men of vision and responsibility, winners of national and international fame: statesmen, churchmen, artists, historians, athletes, civic and business leaders, industrial pioneers, and citizens of many talents.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
St. Thomas High School traces its roots to 1900, when Rev. Nicholas Roche and two fellow Basilian fathers opened St. Thomas College in a former 1861 Franciscan monastery in Houston. After hurricane damage forced relocations, Father Roche secured its future in 1903 by building Houston's first college preparatory school for boys, and in 1940 the school moved to its site on Buffalo Bayou. The Basilians, whose order began in France in 1822, were the first of their community in Texas, and their school helped educate leaders through Houston's twentieth-century rise.
Why it matters
The school illustrates how Catholic teaching orders shaped education and civic leadership in a fast-growing American city.
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Related people
- · Nicholas Roche
- · T. P. O'Rourke
- · A. L. Higgins
Themes & tags
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