St. Mary's Elementary School - Lancaster, NY

The Catholic Church Society of Lancaster was founded January 6, 1834. With this action, what was to become St. Mary's of the Assumption Parish had its beginnings. Before there was a church building, there was a traveling school at which about twenty Catholic children received an education. This consisted of weekly lessons conducted in Catholic homes in the Lancaster area. In 1837, Father John Neumann, now St. John Neumann, established the first church on the hill, as well as the first parish school, on a piece of land at the corner of what is now Broadway and Transit. A three-room wooden building was constructed as a combination school and residence on St. Mary's Hill in 1842. This was replaced with a small brick structure in 1864. Schoolmasters, all men, were the pioneer educators of St. Mary's children, the last of which was active until 1892. In 1874, the school was expanded and the Miss Nardins were hired to educate all of the girls and the younger boys. They remained at St. Mary's until August of 1898. On August 2, 1898, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Third Order Regular committed to staffing St. Mary's School.

August 1898: The Sisters of St. Francis of the Third Order Regular committed themselves to staffing St. Mary's School
September 1898: Grades one through nine (a grade school and a high school).
September 1902: Kindergarten was added to the school.
June 1904: First Regents exams were given. Graduation of fifteen eighth graders and one high school senior was held at the Lancaster Town Hall.
November 3, 1904: The construction of a new school was completed next to the church. That building has since been razed.

In the earliest years, St. Mary's was legally annexed to Sacred Heart Academy on Washington Street in Buffalo.

June 17, 1908: St. Mary's School was officially chartered by the state of New York.
September, 1931: The first lady teacher joined the faculty since 1898.
1955: The Diocese of Buffalo assumed the operation of St. Mary's High School. High school students moved to a new building on Laverack Avenue.
Spring 1958: A new elementary building, the present structure, was built, housing grades K,1,6,7,8. The other grades were taught in the old building.
1968: A second floor was added to the school.
1989: Two rooms were added to the south section of the school.
2002: An addition to the school includes a chapel, new parish center, meeting rooms, administrative offices, a computer lab, an art room, and an eighth grade room. Changes from existing rooms to new rooms include art room (3rd grade); Religious Ed. office (1st grade); school offices (K break rooms); nurses' office (school copy, store, and record room); computer room (physical ed. office and store room).

St. Mary's proudly claims forty-seven women who entered religious life (forty-two Sisters of St. Francis) and seventy-eight men who have been ordained priests. We are grateful for the remarkable foundation of faith begun by St. John Neumann and his contemporaries, and made possible by the sacrifices of the parishioners, lay teachers, alumni/ae and the Sisters of St. Francis.

As a school of the twenty-first century, we have commit ourselves to continuing the tradition of Catholic education, to establishing a strong faith in members of the St. Mary's school community and to equipping our children with solid Catholic values to carry into their families and work place. Through the continual assessment of curriculum and instructional strategies, we intend to insure the highest possible quality of education. Our goal is to enable the formation of students who are faith-filled persons, responsible in their behavior and contributing members of the schools, teams, and places of employment for which they are destined.