St. Joseph School and Church collection
Scope and Contents
The focus of this collection is on the Catholic priests and Benedictine Sisters of Chicago who arrived in Salida to teach. It includes booklets, parish and school faculty lists, news clippings and photos.
The highlights of this collection include:
Centennial Celebration 1875 to 1975
This booklet not only relates the history of the parish, but gives honor to all pastors past, present, and future.
St Joseph's School 60th Anniversary
Includes the Aim of Education in a Catholic school. A brief history of St Joseph's School. A list of the faculty of Benedictine Sisters, the priests and lay teachers. Includes class pictures from 1934 thru 1983.
100th Anniversary St. Joseph Catholic Church 1909-2009
This historical narrative is dedicated to the Catholic priests who have served the parish and the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago who arrived in the small town of Salida in 1922, to teach, and ended up staying more than sixty years. The positive influence they had on the lives of the children they taught has resonated far beyond this community.
Heart of the Rockies A History of the Salida Area
This booklet contains a complete history of the Ute Indians, pioneers, railroads, gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc mines, including photos.
Lists of Benedictine Sisters at Salida from 1922 thru 1989.
Collection of photos of St. Joseph Parish from 1934 thru 1990 including church, convent, and school. Also, pictures of the priests, Sisters, staff, and students.
Parish and school news clippings 1952 thru 1990.
School promotional materials from the 1970s and parish bulletins from the 1980s.
Scrapbook of St. Joseph School news clippings-1980s. Created by Sister Mildred Scheetz, OSB.
Dates
- Creation: 1934-2009
Conditions Governing Access
The material in this collection is unrestricted. It is open for research.
Biographical / Historical
In 1874 a missionary priest Father Henry Robinson was put in charge of the South Park mission including Pancha Springs and Salida. He alone took care of these missions. Father continued to visit all the missions around him but, the demand became too great for one man to handle. From that time as Salida grew, the first Pastor in Salida was Father P.J. Gleason. St.Joseph Church was built in 1885. Over the yers a number of priests were assigned until 1922 when the responsibility of the parish was taken over by the Benedictine Fathers. Including Father Albert Schaller, OSB.
St. Joseph school opened its doors in September 1922 with an enrollment of 130 pupils and a staff of three Benedictine Sisters from Chicago. Sister Mary Schartung, OSB, Sister Clare Schaefer, OSB and Sister Magdalene Schmidt, OSB. Sister Mary served as principal of 37 years. A number of vocations to religious life and to the priesthood came from St. Joseph School. The Benedictine Sisters not only taught school, but the took care of the Altar. The instructed the altar boys, trained the boys and girls to sing in the choir at daily mass. They also instructed Catholic boys and girls, who were not attending St. Joseph's in cathechism to prepare them to receive the sacraments. In 1957 parishioners raised a record amount of funds enabling a new school to be constructed. The new building represented a 36-year struggle. At last, with the ambition and drive of all the many priests, sisters and parishioners it had become a reality. In 1991 St Joseph's School was officially closed, but is scheduled to reopen in 2025.
Extent
.3 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
Subject
- St. Joseph School (Salida, Colo.) (Organization)
- St. Joseph Church (Salida, Colo.) (Organization)
- Title
- A Guide to St. Joseph School and Church collection
- Author
- Lorrie Wiltgen
- Date
- 2025-06-10
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago Archives Repository
Archives
Benedictine Sisters of Chicago
7430 N. Ridge Blvd.
Chicago Illinois 60645 United States
(773) 764-2413 ext. 203
archives@osbchicago.org