Former Site of Saint Anthony's Catholic School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Deaf Smith County, there's a building with a story layered inside a story layered inside a story. It starts in 1914, when Saint Anthony's Catholic School first opened its doors and took on the job of preparing young students for advanced classwork.

Now, that is a serious mission for any institution, and this one took it seriously from the very first day. But here's the part that gets you: those initial classes weren't held in some purpose-built schoolhouse. They were held in a former Deaf Smith County courthouse, a building that Father Salvator di Giovanni, S.A., and his assistant, Brother James, had converted for church purposes.

Think about that for a moment. The same walls that once heard legal arguments and county business now heard lessons and young voices learning to reach higher. That's a building doing its second act, and doing it well.

The school kept growing. Students kept coming. And by 1927, a new structure had to be built just to hold them all.

That building became the home of Saint Anthony's Catholic School, the place where generations of Deaf Smith County children prepared themselves for what came next, right up until 1955, when the school relocated. The building didn't sit idle, though. Not for long.

By 1966, a history museum moved in, filling those same rooms with local pioneer artifacts, the kind of objects that carry a whole region's memory in their grain and rust and worn edges. So what you've got here is a place that has been, in its time, a courthouse, a church school, and a museum of the very land it stands on. Deaf Smith County packed a lot of living into one address.

What the marker says

Since its establishment in 1914 Saint Anthony's Catholic School has played a prominent role in preparing young students for advanced classwork. Initial classes were held in a former Deaf Smith County courthouse converted for church purposes by Father Salvator di Giovanni, S.A., and his assistant, Brother James. A new structure was built in 1927 to house a growing student enrollment and served as the site of Saint Anthony's Catholic School prior to their relocation in 1955. A history museum, exhibiting local pioneer artifacts, has occupied this building since 1966. (1993).