History of Catholic Education in Flagstaff
Catholic education in Flagstaff, Arizona, began in 1895, seven years after the city’s first Catholic church opened. Today, San Francisco de Asís Catholic School continues this heritage as Flagstaff’s oldest continuously operating private school. Although its name, parish affiliation, and campus have changed, the school has remained committed to forming children in the Catholic faith, academic excellence, and service.
The school opened in a one-room cabin at Cherry and Beaver Streets with Alice Metz as its first teacher. A schoolhouse followed in 1896, and a permanent two-room building was constructed in 1897 through the generosity and leadership of local Catholic supporters. In 1899, the Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross arrived from Kentucky, and the school became St. Anthony’s School. Classrooms were added in 1902, followed by a multistory building in 1911 that housed the school and sisters, as well as served as the Church of the Nativity until 1930. In December of 1930 the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church was dedicated across the street from St. Anthony’s.
In 1953, Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish opened a school on West Clay Avenue. In 1954, St. Anthony’s was renamed Nativity School and continued serving families at the Humphreys Street campus. Religious sisters sustained Catholic education through generations, including the Sisters of Loretto, Adrian Dominican Sisters, Sisters of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Sisters of the Immaculate Heart. Today, lay administrators, faculty, and staff carry forward this legacy of faith, academic excellence, and service.
In 1976, Our Lady of Guadalupe School closed for economic reasons, and the two schools consolidated on the Humphreys Street campus as St. Mary’s Catholic Regional School. The school celebrated one hundred years of Catholic education in Flagstaff in 1995.
In 1997, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and St. Pius X Parishes, together with Holy Trinity Newman Center, consolidated as San Francisco de Asís Parish. Reflecting this parish unity, St. Mary’s became San Francisco de Asís Catholic School in 2007. The parish dedicated its new church on McMillan Mesa on February 2, 2013. That same year, Holy Trinity Newman Center became separately incorporated as its own parish.
The new school campus opened in phases during the 2016-2017 school year, bringing preschool through eighth-grade students together on McMillan Mesa. Located across from the parish church, the campus includes preschool and prekindergarten classrooms, kindergarten through eighth grade, a library and media center, science laboratory, art and music classrooms, a commercial kitchen, and a full-sized gymnasium. These facilities support academic excellence and the needs of today’s students while maintaining the school’s Catholic foundation.
For more than 130 years, families, parishioners, clergy, religious sisters, and educators have helped sustained Catholic education in Flagstaff. San Francisco de Asís Catholic School continues their work by partnering with families to form faithful disciples, lifelong learners, and compassionate servant leaders, looking toward its 150th anniversary in 2045.