| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
The full name of this order of women religious is: Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis (SSJ-TOSF). Also see grotto #74117
The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis (SSJ-TOSF) Convent is the founding motherhouse of this Polish sisterhood. The convent complex also features a boiler house, garage, cemetery chapel that serves as a mausoleum, the congregation’s cemetery, a grotto, and an iron fence with brick entrance pillars.
Built in 1903 as the order’s motherhouse and teacher training academy, the convent was designed by the firm Aldrich & Cordella of St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1916, an addition similar in design characteristics to the original building was constructed on its west elevation. This addition was designed by the firm E. Brielmaier & Sons of Milwaukee. The hipped-roof uppermost level of the original convent and 1916 addition was replaced with the existing flat-roofed upper level in 1959. A final addition projecting from the west elevation of the 1916 addition consisting of a chapel and infirmary was built in 1967. The chapel and infirmary addition was designed by the architectural firm, Hackner, Schroeder & Associates of La Crosse, Wisconsin and it occupies the former site of the convent farm. Following construction of this chapel, the original chapel wing formerly located on the rear elevation of the convent was razed. Similarly, following construction of the boiler house in 1967, the original boiler house, laundry, and bakery buildings were razed by the early 1970s.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis Convent Complex is locally significant under Criterion A: History in the areas of Education, Ethnic Heritage, and Health/Medicine. This religious order was established on July 1, 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 subject convent served as the founding motherhouse and teacher training academy of the congregation, which ultimately became the largest Polish sisterhood organized in the United States. To prepare their members for their teaching vocation, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis established a high school, St. Joseph Academy, as well as a junior college, St. Joseph Junior College, within the convent. Originally exclusively serving the members of their order, St. Joseph Academy later accommodated day students, as well. Further opportunities for sisters to advance their education were offered through summer classes when the community gathered at the motherhouse at the end of the parochial school year for prayer, reunion, rest, and study. The growth of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis, which consisted of forty-six founding members in 1901 and increased to 252 in 1910, 451 in 1920, and 920 in 1940, coincided with a great wave of Polish immigration to the United States. Increasing membership allowed the order to staff a greater number of Polish parochial schools; in 1934, the Sisters of St. Joseph taught approximately 26,500 children. By 1951, the order staffed sixty-nine elementary schools, as well as multiple high schools. Of these elementary schools, twenty-seven were located in Wisconsin featuring a total enrollment of approximately 5,542 children. In 1964, approximately 40,000 students were enrolled in schools administered and staffed by the order. In 1938, the congregation initiated a health care apostolate purchasing River Pines Sanatorium near Stevens Point. During the period 1945-1949, the sisters responded to requests for their ministry in health care purchasing three hospitals that had been operated by individual doctors, as well as receiving a hospital in northern Michigan. By 1964, they had expanded all of these facilities at considerable expense to their order. Their health care mission also applied to members of the congregation. The same year their membership peaked at 1331 in 1967, the Sisters of St. Joseph completed construction of an infirmary addition at the convent complex for the aging sisters of their community in need of care. By 2019, the order consisted of 196 women religious; fifty-five percent of whom were 80-years-old or older. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Peplinski, Josephine Marie, SSJ-TOSF, "A Fitting Response: The History of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis." 2 vols. South Bend, IN: Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis, Inc., 1992.
The White Cord, 50th Anniversary. Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis, 1951.
“Plans Accepted.” Stevens Point Daily Journal, January 22, 1902, Page 1.
“St. Joseph’s Academy.” Stevens Point Daily Journal, June 30, 1903, Page 1.
“St. Joseph’s Academy Reaches 33rd Birthday.” Stevens Point Daily Journal, August 1, 1934; “Academy is 25 Years Old, Plans an Observance.” Stevens Point Daily Journal, September 24, 1947.
STEVENS POINT DAILY JOURNAL: JANUARY 7, 1909, P. 1; DECEMBER 11, 1909, P. 1; MAY 6, 1911, P. 3; FEBRUARY 13, 1915, P. 1; MARCH 27, 1915, P. 5; JANUARY 5, 1916, P.. 1; JULY 22, 1916, P. 2; JUNY 25, 1916, P. 1; AUGUST 17, 1922, P. 2; JANUARY 12, 1959, P. 1; FEBRUARY 3, 1965, P. 16. |
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