Abandoned school in South Dakota
St. Mary's School, Elkton South Dakota
A four-story convent, boarding, and day school was built in 1899 for $7,000. In 1917, the Presentation Sisters built, St. Mary's School, costing $42,000 to supplement the older structure. It was dedicated in 1918. St. Mary's continued the tradition of Catholic education in the community that had begun in 1890 and opened its doors to "children of all creeds" (Mother Gertrude's 1939 Reminisces). The school taught children of grade school ages and in late 1918 also had high school courses accredited by the State Department of Education. St. Mary's was the first parochial school in South Dakota to be accredited.
The grand opening of St. Mary's in 1918 featured a Ladies Guild sale of fancy articles, a community feast, and a "Merry dance" in the "mammoth hall" located on the second floor of the building. A newspaper article from 1918 praised the complex as: "a block of beautiful buildings and grounds (the school, church, rectory, and convent) seldom seen outside of large cities. A grand monument to future generations! The new structure of fifty by one hundred feet is a modern work of architecture and high class workmanship with a basement, first and second stories. The entire building is electric-lighted, well ventilated, furnished with hot and cold water and complete sewage."
St. Mary's high school classes were in operation during the years 1918 through 1933 inclusive. An aggregate of 180 students received high school diplomas. After struggling along during the depression, the pastorate and trustees decided to close St. Mary's in 1934, hoping to reopen the school when conditions improved. In 1950, the school re-opened under Father Shean for grades one through eight. An average of 100 pupils attended yearly during the next for the sixteen years. A new school and parish was built in 1966. The new school was located a few block away. After the school was closed in 1966, it became a target of vandals and the victim of neglect. An attempt was made in 1985 to convert two rooms in the basement area to a mushroom-growing operation. The concept was abandoned in 1988. Vandals broke the glass out of every window and all the interior light fixtures. Graffiti was written on the chalkboards and holes were knocked in the interior walls.
The dormer roofs had deteriorated, allowing water into the structure. The exposure to outside elements caused damage to the walls, ceiling, trim, and flooring.
St. Mary's School had an immeasurable influence on the lives of its graduates and the Elkton community. Many students boarded at the school, which became their "home away form home."
The auditorium was the setting for many community activities, including dances, plays, community meetings, graduations, fund raisers, and reunions. Both Catholics and non-Catholics attended these functions and the school itself. In the early 1990s, school and adjacent structures were, without a doubt, one of the largest and most impressive religious and educational complexes found in the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota.
Building Description
St. Mary's school is a two-and-one-half story brick building built in the Romanesque Revival style in the early 1900s. The rectangular structure, measures approximately 50' x 100' with fourteen-inch thick four course red brick walls outlined and finished with light brown sandstone quoins. The gable roof is highlighted with Romanesque-style parapets, orange and brown clay tile, and eight shed dormers sided with wood shingles. The north, or front, facade is capped with a sandstone cross on top of a projecting gable.
The interior wall finish is lath plaster on the brick outer walls and 2 x 6 wood framing with lath plaster finish. The floor jousts are 2" x 14" Douglas fir supported by a basement level beam of 5 - 3 x 14 bridge timbers bolted together on 36" x 36" brick pillars. The roof system is heavily constructed with framing material 12" on center to support the weight of the tile roof and the heavy snow falls of South Dakota winters.
The Romanesque arches over the windows and doors. Fanlight window sash over is highlight. The eight dormers set into the clay tile roof line provide light for an upper floor area that served as school and community auditorium.
The basement area was divided into four rooms that once served as a boiler room, a chapel, and lunch rooms. The main floor was divided into four large classrooms with chalk boards on two walls and a large clothes closet on the hall side of each room. The upper floor area is reached by a wide Douglas fir stairway. The interior trim is simple and utilitarian. The doors are paneled fir, and the jambs, trims, and transoms are constructed of the same material. The base trim is 10" - high Douglas fir, and the window trim appears to be Douglas fir and yellow pine. Each classroom was trimmed with picture railing around the perimeter of the 12' high walls from which to hang pictures and other teaching aids.
The exterior of the building has been largely unaltered since its original construction. Vandals broke the glass out of every window and all the interior light fixtures. Graffiti was written on the chalkboards and holes were knocked in the interior walls. The dormer roofs had deteriorated, allowing water into the structure. The exposure to outside elements caused damage to the walls, ceiling, trim, and flooring.
