Louisville, Ohio history

Bethlehem High School, founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1819, is the earliest extant Catholic elementary or secondary school in the Archdiocese.

The first Catholic school founded in Louisville is Presentation Academy, established by the Sisters of Charity in 1831.

In 1836, Saint Boniface Parish opened a school, the first truly parochial or parish school in Louisville.

After the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884, each parish was directed to establish a Catholic elementary school and this resulted in an historic growth in Catholic Schools, both in the Diocese of Louisville and in the nation.

In 1887, the first diocesan school board was established.

Louisville Collegiate School opened its doors on September 2, 1915, in a house on West Ormsby Avenue in Old Louisville, becoming the first school in Kentucky committed specifically to prepare young women for college.

The Collegiate community celebrated its first graduation in 1916, the same year that the school’s official crest was first printed.

Needing more land to accommodate growing enrollment, Collegiate moved in 1927 to its current home on Glenmary Avenue in the historic Cherokee Triangle, just east of downtown Louisville.

Only intramural sports were offered at the school, with an occasional contest against local schools, until 1933 when, in an act of defiance, a group of spirited Collegiate girls formed an independent interscholastic team to compete in the wider community.

In 1980, Collegiate’s Board of Trustees charted another bold, new direction: coeducation in the Upper School.

To accommodate the increase in Upper School enrollment brought about by coeducation, Willig Hall was built for $1.5 million in 1983.

The first coed class graduated in 1987.

As part of the school’s master plan, Collegiate launched the 2001 Leap Without Bounds campaign in order to further expand its Upper School program.

In 2013, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to launch a comprehensive campaign to support endowment, facilities, and operations.

To respond, the Archdiocese established the Catholic Elementary School Plan as part of its 2014 Strategic Plan.

In 2015, Collegiate became the only school in Kentucky to become a member of the prestigious Global Online Academy (GOA).