History
Toward the end of the 1950s a movement to provide better education opportunities for the Catholic high school age students resulted in a number of consolidations in the Dubuque Archdioceses. On July 3, 1956, pastors of the parishes surrounding St. Joseph's, Bellevue, held a preliminary meeting to discuss the concept of a central Catholic high school to be opened in the fall of 1957.
The official incorporation of Marquette Catholic School became effective on September 25, 1956. Overseeing the corporation were Archbishop Leo Binz, Monsignor George Biskup as Archdiocesan Vicar General, Father Frederick C. Bahning as Executive Coordinator and two laity Matthew Manders of Bellevue and Reinhold Steines, Sr. of Springbrook. The initial members of the Council of Administration included the pastors of Sts. Peter and Paul's, Springbrook, St. John's, Andrew, St. Joseph's, Bellevue, St. Catherine's, St. Donatus, St. Peter's, Sabula and Sacred Heart, Green Island.
January 17, 1957, St. Joseph's parish made available lot 451, formally part of the playground of St. Joseph's School, for the site of the Marquette building. A one story, brick and glass structure of simple design was planned. Ground was broken for the new building in April 1957. Construction of Marquette Catholic School was completed by October 1957 at a total cost of $199,523. Archbishop Leo Binz dedicated and blessed Marquette Catholic School before a large crowd of parishioners, students, and local dignitaries on October 27, 1957.
The first faculty of Marquette Catholic School was composed of Archdiocesan priests and the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Father Frederick C. Bahning of St. Joseph's, Bellevue and Father William J. Tiedeman were full-time teachers and Father Richard R. Krapfl of St. Catherine's, Father Peter M. Graff of St. Donatus and Father Ivan J Boyd of St. Peter's, Sabula and Sacred Heart, Green Island were part-time teachers.
Sister Mary Georgiana Blum was named the first principal of Marquette. Sister Mary Gerardine Bos, Sister Mary Maristelle Massman, Sister Mary Jolene Heue, Sister Mary Rosannita Menke and Sister Mary Edna Wagner made up the rest of the faculty. Enrollment at Marquette varied greatly through the years. One hundred eighty-nine were enrolled the first year. When the Holy Rosary High School in LaMotte closed in 1965, the Marquette corporation was reorganized to include Holy Rosary parish. As a result, enrollment at Marquette Catholic School increased to 266 and two lay teachers and three religious sisters were added to the faculty. The highest enrollment recorded at Marquette Catholic School was 318 students in 1972. A new pitched roof was added to the school during the summer of 1988. A gable was also added to the north doors to enhance the appearance of the front entrance. [1]
On December 10, 1996, the Marquette Educational Center (MEC) opened its doors. The gymnasium is part of the Lynch Auditorium, which is named after Fr. Mick Lynch, and includes a stage and four locker rooms. Fr. Mick Lynch, a former principal and a long-time Marquette supporter, along with his father, matched 10% of the money raised by the end of 1998, up to $1,000,000. The new center also features an ICN - Iowa Communications Network room that allows students to attend college accredited courses via video conferencing. [2] The capital campaign, named Commitment to Our Future, raised $900,000 with major support from the community as a whole. Prism, of Keiler, Wisconsin, was the general contractor with help from over fifty students and parents. [3]
In 2014 St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Marquette Schools purchased Fifth Street between Franklin and Park streets from the City of Bellevue as part of an expansion project. Construction included the addition of a multipurpose room and "parish center" where Fifth Street once existed, connecting all campus buildings excluding the church. The parish demolished the historic St. Joseph's Middle School building built in 1930 in favor of 45 new parking spaces. The project was completed in 2017. [4]
Athletics
Marquette Catholic offers baseball, softball, boys cross country, girls cross country, volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, boys golf, girls golf, soccer, boys track, and girls track. Marquette students are also able to compete with Wahlert Catholic High School in Dubuque, Iowa in swimming and bowling. Marquette students are also able to compete with Northeast High School in Goose Lake, Iowa in football.
Marquette was formerly a member of the Big East Conference. Beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, Marquette Catholic Schools became a member in the newly expanded Tri-Rivers Conference. [5]
Bellevue is a city in eastern Jackson County, Iowa, United States. The city lies along the Mississippi River and next to Bellevue State Park. In 2020 its population was 2,363; up from a count of 2,191 at the 2010 Census, making it the second-largest and only growing city in Jackson County.
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States.
The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known by its initials BVM, is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded in the United States by Mother Mary Frances Clarke. Its founders were Irish Catholics. The BVM currently works in twenty-five U.S. states and three foreign countries.
The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is led by an archbishop who administers the archdiocese from the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The archbishop has both a cathedral and co-cathedral: the mother church – the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul, and the co-cathedral, the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis.
James Joseph Byrne was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Dubuque from 1962 to 1983, having previously served as Auxiliary Bishop of St. Paul (1947–1956) and Bishop of Boise (1956–1962).
Wahlert Catholic High School is a private Roman Catholic high school in Dubuque, Iowa, United States, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque.
Don Bosco High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Gilbertville, Iowa, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque.
Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of Loretto High School is a Catholic, archdiocesan, all-female high school located in the Byzantine-Latino Quarter of Los Angeles, California. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is the First Catholic Archdiocesan all girls high school in the Los Angeles area.
St. Mary IC School is a Roman Catholic K-8 school in Guttenberg, Iowa, United States. It formerly had a high school division that operated from 1921 to 1968. It is within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque.
George Biskup was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in Indiana from 1970 to 1979.
James Vincent Casey was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska (1957–1967) and Archbishop of Denver, Colorado (1967–1986).
Jean-Antoine-Marie Pelamourgues (1811–1875) was a French missionary who was one of the first Roman Catholic priests to serve in the Diocese of Dubuque in the state of Iowa. He served as the first pastor of St. Anthony's Church in Davenport, Iowa from 1839 to 1868.
Holy Family Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Davenport. The parish is the result of a merger between Saints Mary and Joseph Parish and Sacred Heart Parish in the city of Fort Madison, Iowa, United States. It maintains both of the former parish church buildings as worship sites. The oldest parish in town, St. Joseph, and St. Mary of the Assumption had merged in the 1990s. St. Mary of the Assumption Church, which became Saints Mary and Joseph, is located at 11th Street and Avenue E. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Sacred Heart Church is located at 23rd Street and Ave I.
Francis John Dunn was a bishop in the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in the state of Iowa from 1969 to 1989.
Immaculate Conception Academy, known locally as ICA, was a Catholic girls' high school located in Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was begun by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) in 1859 and it remained in operation until it merged with St. Ambrose Academy in 1958 to form Assumption High School. The academy building remains in use as an academic building on the campus of Palmer College of Chiropractic.
St. Joseph Academy (SJA) was a Catholic all-girls high school in Des Moines, Iowa. It merged with Dowling Catholic High School in 1972.
The Bellevue Community School District is a rural public school district and serves the city and surrounding area of Bellevue, Iowa. It is second largest public school district in Jackson County, Iowa. It operates two buildings serving grades PK-12 and 3-4 year old preschool. Bellevue High School holds both the junior high and high school as well as an athletics complex on its campus, while Bellevue Elementary School is located downtown within the pre-Civil War Jackson County Courthouse building. The district is overseen by the Iowa Department of Education.
