Canisius High School history

In 1872, the cornerstone was laid for a new school building on Washington Street, the central portion of which was completed in November of the same year.

A further addition had been made in 1875 when a large property about two miles from the College was purchased.

In the year 1883, the High School was incorporated by the State of New York as the Academic Department of Canisius College.

In 1890 the first master's degree was awarded.

In 1897 the college was authorized to award the Regents Diploma for the first four years of study, and at this point it made sense to separate into two institutions, Canisius High School and Canisius College.

On September 1, 1907, the Buffalo Mission of the German Province had ceased to exist and, after a lapse of thirty-eight years, the American half of the old New York and Canada Mission, now joined with Maryland as the Maryland-New York Province, resumed control.

In December 1912, Canisius College having moved into new buildings at Main and Jefferson Streets in Buffalo, the Washington Street school was turned over to the exclusive use of the high school.

His wife died shortly after construction started in 1918.

The Washington Street buildings were turned over to the exclusive use of the High School, although both communities continued to be under the same superior until 1919, when Father Robert Johnson became the first rector of the separate high school community.

In 1920, its jubilee year, the college introduced the BS degree, intended for students who wanted more experience in technological, premedical, and industrial areas.

Middle States accreditation was first awarded in 1921.

They lived in the house for three years, and in 1925 it was sold to the Masons, who converted it into the Buffalo Consistory.

Robert Johnson “became the first rector of the separate high school community.” In September 1928, the high school received an independent charter, completing its separation from the college.

Rand Building: The Rand Building on Lafayette Square was Buffalo's tallest building (29 floors) when it was opened in 1929.

The original AB requirements became by 1930 a core curriculum consisting of nearly half the credits for the full degree, with religion and philosophy having the largest shares, at 18 credit hours each.

By the middle 1940’5, superiors had begun to give serious consideration to the project of moving the High School from its old location on Washington Street to a more favorable site.

Succeeding years showed a slow increase, so that there were 530 students in 1942 and over 600 the following year.

27: High School receives an independent charter 1944: March 21: Purchase of the Consistory 1944: Sept.

Meanwhile, work was begun on the new school wing in November, 1946.

On August 29, 1948, a strange procession wound its waythrough the halls of Buffalo’s magnificent Consistory building.

The plans called for the demolition to begin in September, 1951, but long before that date the young unofficial “housewreckers” of the neighborhood had gone to work and actually demolished almost an entire wall of one of the smaller buildings.

St Michael’s Church still stands and the parish Fathers, a separate community since August 1, 1952, now reside in a small rectory on Washington Street.

In 1956, a permanent Jesuit residence at the high school was dedicated and named after the two alumni who had generously donated the money to construct the building: George M. Frauenheim '30 and Edward E. Frauenheim, Jr. '32.

Canisius demolished the Milburn House in 1957.

The student body was all male, a tradition that would continue in some form until the college became fully coeducational in 1965.

The first MBAs were awarded in 1971.

The School of Education offered counselor education, sport administration, special education, college student personnel administration, literacy education, athletic training, health and human performance, and Montessori education, the last being phased out in 1998.

Summer 2007 saw the groundbreaking for and first stage of development of the Canisius High School Athletic Complex on Clinton Street.

In the spring of 2008, the construction was complete and Canisius Lacrosse and Track & Field squads began to put the property to use.

In May 2017, Canisius purchased the Conners mansion at 1140 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, directly across West Ferry Street from the main Canisius campus' south end.

Following renovations, the former mansion opened as Canisius’ new center for the fine and performing arts in January 2018.