Stephen On Catholic Schools In Trenton

Stephen on Catholic Schools in Trenton

Stephen wrote...
A little background on Cathedral and several other Catholic high
schools in Trenton. I can’t say for certain when St. Mary’s
Cathedral High School opened its doors but a 1911 wedding
announcement for a distant cousin states that she graduated from
Cathedral High School with the class of 1904. (My mother graduated
with the class of 1931.) Cathedral was coed through June 1936 when
it changed to an all girls high school. Immaculate Conception High
School opened in September 1922 and it too was coed through the
1935-36 school year. In September 1936 it became an all boys high
school and fielded its first football team. Cathedral HS had played
football prior to becoming all girls and in the fall of 1936,
Immaculate Conception HS replaced Cathedral as the gridiron opponent
for many schools that had scheduled a game against Cathedral for
that fall. ICHS played all away games that first year. It wasn’t
until 1938 that the name of the high school was changed from
Immaculate Conception to Trenton Catholic Boys High School. The
nickname of the school remained “Golden Wave”. Cathedral was
known as the “Gaels”. Other parishes in Trenton may have
established their own high schools during earlier years but by
the 1930s Immaculate Conception and St. Mary’s Cathedral were the
only parishes operating high schools in Trenton. Prior to the fall
of 1936, I suspect which of these two high schools was attended
was determined by which parish an eighth grader was a member. From
the fall of 1936 until the Diocese of Trenton opened Notre Dame
High School Lawrenceville in 1957, the sex of the student
determined the high school that was attended. Parish affiliation
was the factor that determined attendance at Notre Dame HS. The
number of graduates of Trenton Catholic and Cathedral each
declined by nearly 100 students between June 1957 and June 1961.
Presumably these 200 students were now graduating from Notre Dame.
In February 1962 it was announced that Trenton Catholic Boys High
School would be closing at he end of the school year. Shortly
thereafter, Msgr. Michael McCorristin of St. Anthony’s Church on
South Olden Avenue announced that his parish would be building a
high school on Leonard Avenue in Hamilton Township for incoming
freshman and transferred sophomore students from St. Anthony, St.
Raphael, Holy Angels and Immaculate Conception parishes. The
teaching staff would include lay teachers and Franciscan nuns.
The Franciscan nuns of Aston, Pa. were also the primary teachers
at the grammar schools operated by these same four parishes. Boys
from these four parishes who would have been juniors and seniors
at Trenton Catholic in September 1962 would transfer to Cathedral
High School. The new school would be named St. Anthony High
School. Its first graduating class was in June 1965 (my brother
was a member of this class). Cathedral was coed again from
September 1962 until it closed in June 1972. In June 1979 St.
Anthony HS was renamed McCorristin HS in honor of its founder.
It was renamed again in September 2005 to Trenton Catholic Academy
and divided into an upper division (grades 9-12) and lower division
(grades 1-8). Earlier in 2005, the diocese had announced the
closing of last remaining parochial schools in the city of
Trenton and those students attending the grammar schools
operated by same four parishes that made up the first classes
of St. Anthony High School in 1962 would comprise the lower
division of TCA. The Trenton Historical Society website has
compiled a list of graduates of some of these high schools from
a number of the yearbooks published by the high schools. It can
be found at: http://www.trentonhistory.org/HSYearBooks.html