St. Joseph Academy History and Orphan Asylum

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A History of the Catholic Church in Baton Rouge

St. Joseph's Academy & Orphan Asylum

1792-1992

By: Frank M. Uter

St. Joseph's Academy and Orphan Asylum was founded amid untold hardships and difficulties. Linked forever with the beginnings of these beneficent institutions are the names of Very Rev. Cyril De la Croix and mother Albina, two pioneers working side by side for God's glory and the uplift of mankind. The records of 1848 already mention a donation by the board of Trustees of St. Joseph's congregation,, of a burial ground to the Sisters of Charity of this place measuring fifteen feet by the usual depth on the right hand side of the first hand alley in the grave yard. So it is evident that St. Joseph's Sisters had been preceded here by another religious Order of Sisters, the Ladies of the Sacred Heart (les Dames du Sacre Coeur) who are numbered among the best and most efficient teachers in the catholic ranks. We know little of their activities here except that the Baton Rouge of those days was too poor and small a place and could not support the splendid institution of the Sacred Heart Ladies who finally gave up their establishment in our midst.

In 1868, the Sisters of St. Joseph were requested by Father Delacroix to come to Baton Rouge to take over a girls orphanage established in the early 1860's. Four sisters arrived in October and moved into the old Sacred Heart Convent which had been recently vacated by the Christian Brothers Institute. The sisters, like many in the area were poor and depended on the good will and volunteer offerings of the people. The St. Vincent de Paul Society helped them considerably, and local farmers gave food to the orphanage and even allowed girls from the orphanage to plant crops on their land.

In its first year the school for girls had seventy five pupils; in 1870, it was named St. Joseph's academy; and in 1872, it became a boarding school as well as an orphanage. In 1875, the Academy was chartered by the state legislature.

in the spring of 1878, the dreaded yellow fever struck Baton Rouge again. General confusion gave way to an unnatural quiet as all schools, places of business and entertainment closed. Only the drugstores remain open. Though the school was now empty, the sisters were able to devote more time to the sick. In time, most of the sisters in Baton Rouge contracted the disease, but all of them recovered. Yellow fever was to return to Baton Rouge again in 1882, 1897 and 1905.

In 1889 the enrollment at St. Joseph's Academy had so increased, Mother Albina sought permission to construct a new, larger, brick building at the cost of $35,000, and on September 8, 1891 the new structure was occupied and Mother Albina opened a laundry at the orphanage to help pay for expenses of the boarders.

St. Joseph's Academy is still in operation in Baton Rouge in 2004, although the orphanage is closed.