SCENE ON CEDAR RIVER
ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, CEDAR RAPIDS
This arrangement continued till the spring of 1905, when the Sisters secured the beautiful house and property known as Mound Farm, on which they now have a beautiful mother house and academy. Up to 1905 St. Joseph's was the mother house of the Cedar Rapids community. Now the mother house is at "the Mound."
The new Sacred Heart Academy opened in September, 1905, with thirty boarders. It is situated on the same location as the mother house of the community.
From the Cedar Rapids mother house of the Sisters of Mercy the following branch houses have been and are supplied: Decorah, Grand Junction, Anamosa, Manchester, De Witt, Charles City, Elma, Oelwein, Bernard, New Haven, Waterloo, Marion, St. Wenceslaus, St. Joseph's, Cedar Rapids, with Mercy Hospital, and a new hospital at Kalispel, Montana.
In the community at present there are about one hundred and thirty members. In the novitiate or preparatory school for aspirants to the Sisterhood there are about forty young ladies laying the foundation for their future life work.