Sisters of St. Joseph Complex Listed in the National Register of Historic Places
For Immediate Release (November 9, 2023)
STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis Convent Complex located in Stevens Point, Portage County, in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Sisters of St. Joseph order was established in 1901 by Polish members of the School Sisters of St. Francis who left their German-American order to serve their fellow Poles by teaching in their parish schools. The complex in Stevens Point served as the founding motherhouse and teacher training academy of the congregation. To prepare their members for teaching, the Sisters of St. Joseph established a high school, St. Joseph Academy, which later accommodated day students in addition to members of the order. The sisters also established St. Joseph Junior College within the convent.
From a group of 46 founding members, the Sisters of St. Joseph became the largest Polish sisterhood organized in the United States, coinciding with a great wave of Polish immigration to the United States. In 1964, approximately 40,000 students were enrolled in schools administered and staffed by the order. The number of sisters in the order peaked in 1967 at 1,331. Faced with declining membership, the order sold the Sisters of St. Joseph Complex in 2019 with plans that it will be rehabilitated for residential use.
Additional information for the Sisters of St. Joseph Complex is available at
https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI74118
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: www.wisconsinhistory.org.
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.