History
The property of the seminary was originally known as Shore Acres, and was the 900-acre (360 ha) estate of Dorr Felt. [2] In 1925, Felt constructed a mansion on the coast of Lake Michigan, but it was unused by 1931. [3] [2] The property was sold to the Order of Saint Augustine in the summer of 1949, who began using it as a seminary the following fall. [4] [3] [5] In the beginning, the ballroom of the mansion was used as a dormitory, filled with bunk beds holding around 90 students. [6] [7]
A four-story, 135,000 square feet (12,500 m2) seminary building was constructed for $3 million ($30.4 million in ) in 1964, which housed classrooms, dormitory space, a recreation room, library, and a chapel. [8] Peak enrollment of 180 students was reached in 1965. [2]
Freshmen students were required to wear red-and-white caps in the presence of upperclassmen. [9] Student life included sports such as baseball. [10] Students of the high school came from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Around 75% of students came from the Chicago metro area. [1]
From 1968, the Felt estate housed cloistered Augustinian nuns from Spain. [1] In 1969, the seminary began to admit non-seminarian lay boys as day students, and hired their first instructor who was a lay woman. [11] [12] Seventy-one students were enrolled in 1974, and eighty were enrolled in 1975. [13] [14]
By 1977, there were only 40 students at the institution. [2] With decreasing enrollment and rising costs, the Augustinians chose to sell the property. Remaining students were transferred to one of four other Augustinian high schools in the Midwest, and the high school program closed in June 1977. [15] [1] Over one thousand students attended the institution during its lifetime. [15] The nuns remained at the property until moving to St. Louis in 1978. [16]
The Michigan State Police announced plans to purchase the property for use as a prison in 1977. [2] The seminary buildings were torn down and the Dunes Correctional Facility was built on the property, opening in 1978 alongside Saugatuck Dunes State Park. [17] [18] The prison was closed in 1991, and Laketown Township purchased the site for a nominal price of $1. [19] The Felt Manor itself was later purchased and restored as an educational site. [18]
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