Lakewood Lore

St. Augustine nuns faced many hardships

St. Augustine Academy has roots in early Lakewood dating back to 1888.

It was in April of that year that the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, looking for a new motherhouse, moved into a summer home at 14808 Lake Ave., immediately west of what was then the Robert Rhodes estate and is now Lakewood Park.

The three-story frame dwelling previously had been occupied by Marcus A. Hanna, renowned Cleveland politician who later became a United States senator. The sisters lived there until a brick convent building was opened on the grounds in 1892.

At first there were many hardships, according to Sister Cheryl Keehner, congregation archivist.

"The convent was quite remote, what with the street car line out of Cleveland ending at Lake and Detroit avenues," she pointed out. Since, in the beginning, Holy Sacrifice could not be offered at the Lakewood home, the sisters had to walk to St.Colman Catholic Church at West 65th and Madison to hear Mass."

Before the end of the first month, one of the nuns died of pneumonia. Shortly afterward, there were two fires, one in the laundry and another that damaged a barn on the premises.

In 1896, the home was opened to summer boarders to help reduce the institution's indebtedness, which was then $14,000. Two years later, there was a particularly cold winter, and several other members died.

However in 1900, the tenuous foothold was strengthened by a windfall from an orchard festival held by the order. It helped build a three-story brick and stone building with a large dormitory, hospital quarters for sick children, and new laundry and kitchen facilities. Also, at that time, Lake Avenue was paved, and city water became available to the convent.

"Through those early years the sisters treated victims of industrial accidents, patients stricken with such diseases as pneumonia and diphtheria, and unfortunates who were without families to care for them," Sister Keehner said.

In 1921, a novitiate high school associated with Catholic University of America, was started. Before the end of the year, this became St. Augustine Academy, a high school for girls. There also was the establishment of a St. Augustine School of Music.

Added in 1925 was kindergarten-through sixth grade instruction. During the following year, grades seven through nine were tacked on.

"But with a growing demand for more high school classes, and the opening of St. Luke's parish elementary school nearby, the academy's lower grades were discontinued," Sister Keehner explained.

A number of additional needed structures were put up on the property in 1952. Five years later, as the necessity for expanded living quarters became critical, a new motherhouse was built for the sisters in Richfield. Even so, the Lake Avenue location remained a residence for faculty members of the academy and music school.

In 1963, another milestone date, the academy significantly enlarged its operation with a new edifice that housed 10 more classrooms. Finally, in 1975, the running of the academy was turned over to the Order of the Holy Family of Nazareth, with the Sisters of Charity continuing as owners and some of its nuns staying on to carry out their work at academy and in St. Luke's parish.

"It should be noted that the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine was founded in Cleveland in 1851 with four nuns who came from France to conduct health and social services in the diocese," Sister Keehner said.

"In 1865 they opened St. Vincent Charity Hospital as well as an orphanage that later became Parmadale."

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post January 11, 1990. Reprinted with permission.

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