In addition to the private schools that existed here in an early day, there were a number of private schools which did good work in Atchison subsequently to the Teasdale school, which was operated here in the eighties. Mrs. Harriet E. Monroe rendered the cause of education in Atchison county an invaluable and also an imperishable service. Mrs. Monroe founded the Atchison Institute. In 1871 she erected a building at the northwest corner of Third and Kansas avenue, to which a wing was added in 1876, and three years later the large brick building, all of which are still standing. The property represented an investment of $25,000, and the success of Mrs. Monroe’s enterprise was phenomenal. She received no bonus or assistance from city, county, State, church or individual. She had nine students when she started her school, and subsequently increased her enrollment to 300. She had a musical department and an art department, and they were admitted to have no superior in the Missouri valley at that time. She also conducted a kindergarten, primary, intermediate and academic grades. Also a collegiate department, consisting of preparatory, scientific, classical and literary courses, together with the normal and commercial courses. She had thirteen teachers. Her vocational department covered all the arts of domestic economy and domestic science, before which she employed most eminent women in their special lines to deliver lectures. Mrs. Monroe was then, and is now, a truly remarkable woman. Her school was a forerunner of Midland College, and when it came to Atchison in 1887, Mrs. Monroe closed her school shortly thereafter and has since been a resident of Washington, D. C. She is a highly educated lady of refinement and culture, and has spent much time upon the lecture platform.
Following the Monroe Institute, some years later, Prof. Flint conducted a Latin school here, which was largely attended. Mr. Flint was succeeded by Prof. Foot, and as an outgrowth of these two schools, Misses Helen and Abigail Scofield opened a preparatory school, and successfully conducted it for a number of years, when they were succeeded by Miss Mary Walton, who ran her school in the building owned by Mrs. J. W. Parker, on Laramie street, between Third and Fourth streets, until a few years ago.
In 1916 the public school system is augmented in its work by several parochial and denominational schools, conducted by the Catholics and the German Lutherans.
MT. ST. SCHOLASTICA’S ACADEMY.
One of the first sights to impress the visitor to Atchison is the imposing collection of buildings which crowns its southern hill, now commonly known as Mt. St. Scholastica.
Mt. St. Scholastica is practically as old as Atchison itself, the first sisters having come here in 1863. Few who gaze upon the massive and commodious array of buildings, surrounded as they now are by well-kept lawns, spacious meadow and woodland, stop to think of its humble beginning and the many trials which beset the early foundation. But the first sisters were in time to feel the effects of the Civil war and the hardships attendant upon the same.
At the request of Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., then prior of St. Benedict’s College, and the first pastor of the church in Atchison, Rev. Mother Evangelista and six companions were sent from the Benedictine convent in St. Cloud, Minn., to establish a school in Atchison. Two more sisters were sent the following April. As these latter were on their way, they were detained at Hannibal for two days. The funeral cortege of President Lincoln having reached that city at the same time as the sisters, one of their sad privileges was that of attending the obsequies of the martyred President before continuing their journey Kansasward.
The little convent, situated at the corner of Second and Division streets, near St. Benedict’s church, was the cradle of the present institution. Second street at that time was not a street at all, but rather a passageway cut through the hazel brush, then so abundant in Atchison.
The academy organized its classes December 1, 1863. It was incorporated in 1873. Its roster bears the names of many of Atchison’s best families of both town and county.
In the summer of 1877 the Price villa was purchased. A new building was added in 1889. The third building was commenced in 1900. The buildings are surrounded by thirty-eight acres of woodland and meadow.