DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Central Catholic High School in Bexar County. Now, every good Texas story starts with a problem, and this one's no different. Back in the early 1850s, San Antonio — already a city of some standing, home to San Fernando Cathedral, crossroads of cultures — had not a single boys' school to its name.
Not one. A city with that much history, and the boys were just... wandering. Bishop Jean-Marie Odin decided that wouldn't do.
So he went to France. To the Society of Mary, the Marianists, and he came back with teachers: Nicholas Koenig, Jean-Baptiste Laignaux, and Xavier Mauclerc. Crossing an ocean to teach school in Texas.
That right there tells you something about the kind of undertaking this was. Joining them was Andrew Edel, a Marianist from Ohio who would serve as principal, and a San Antonio layman named Timothy O'Neal, who also came aboard. Five men, one mission, and a city full of boys with nothing to do.
On August 26, 1852, the school opened. Now — and here's where the story gets good — it opened in two rooms. Over a livery stable.
Near San Fernando Cathedral. You can almost smell it. But those brothers weren't the type to let a little horsepower slow them down.
That winter, they erected a proper building near the San Antonio River, and on March 1, 1853, St. Mary's Institute moved onto that new campus and finished the school year with one hundred pupils — Anglo-, French-, German-, and Mexican-Americans enrolled as day students, and South Texas ranch boys coming in as boarders. Various creeds, various backgrounds, all under one roof.
San Antonio in 1853, doing something that wasn't always easy to do. The brothers kept building. They expanded that first structure, then raised others.
And somewhere along the way — in a moment that must have made a few jaws drop — they put up a four-story building that the marker calls a skyscraper, described as unique for the 1870s. A four-story skyscraper rising above San Antonio. Not bad for something that started above a livery stable.
Over the years the school went through several changes of names and facilities, and one of those threads eventually grew into St. Mary's University of San Antonio — a whole university, grown out of what the marker calls the 1852 Brothers' School. Then in 1932, after all those changes and all those years, Central Catholic High School became the direct successor to that pioneer effort.
And today it stands as the oldest and the largest private boys' school in the state of Texas. Two rooms over a stable. One hundred boys.
A bishop who sailed to France for teachers. Sometimes the biggest things start in the most unlikely places.
What the marker says
This school originated at a time when San Antonio lacked a boys' school of any kind. Bishop Jean-Marie Odin obtained teachers in France from the Society of Mary: Nicholas Koenig, Jean-Baptiste Laignaux, and Xavier Mauclerc. Andrew Edel, another Marianist from Ohio, was principal; San Antonio layman Timothy O'Neal also joined the staff. he school opened Aug. 26, 1852, in two rooms over a livery stable near San Fernando Cathedral. During the winter the brothers erected a building near the San Antonio River. "St. Mary's Institute" occupied that campus on March 1, 1853, and finished the school year with 100 pupils of various creeds. Enrolled as day students were Anglo-, French-, German-, and Mexican-Americans. South Texas ranch boys attended as boarders. After expanding that building, the brothers erected others, including a four-story "skyscraper" unique for the 1870s. St. Mary's University of San Antonio was one outgrowth of the 1852 "Brothers' School". After several changes of names and facilities, Central Catholic High School in 1932 became the successor of the pioneer effort, and is now revered as the oldest and the largest private boy's school in Texas. (1978)