St. Joseph's Indian Normal School - Rensselaer, IN
Posted by: rogueblack
N 40° 55.284 W 087° 09.295
16T E 486955 N 4530043
St. Katherine Drexel's building is the oldest on the St. Joseph's College campus and stands as testament to the faith and service of the college for the community.
Waymark Code: WM3FRT
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 03/30/2008
Views: 63
St. Joseph's Indian Normal School was started by St. Katherine Drexel of Philadelphia, who donated $50,000 for the education of Catholic American Indian boys.
Afterwards, it became Drexel Hall, a dormitory for male college students of St. Joseph's College, but it fell into disrepair and was condemned for years until it was renovated and repurposed as the Rensselaer Adult Learning Center in 2006.
The marker reads:
St. Joseph's Indian Normal School
1888-1896
Erected by the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions with funds from Katherine Drexel and operated by the Society of the Precious Blood with federal funds, 60 Indian boys from distant reservations were annually trained here.
Erected by the Indiana History Society, 1971