The entire senior class of 1940 — 31 students in all — could hold hands and stand on the front steps.
Dear Vance: My mother graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in Memphis in the late 1940s, but I can find nothing online about such a school. Is it still in existence? — K.L., Nashville.
Dear K.L.: Over the years, I have written about several old private schools and colleges for women in Memphis. Miss Higbee’s School, the Clara Conway Institute, and Siena College come to mind, and all of them are now closed. I’m sorry to tell you that I can add Sacred Heart to that list, though the building itself, a Gothic Revival structure of yellow brick and carved stone, is still standing at 1325 Jefferson.
The name of the school has caused some confusion, with some calling it an academy and others calling it a school. But anybody who drives by the main building today can look above the entrance, where the words “The Sacred Heart School” are carved into the stonework. So let’s stick with that.
Anyone trying to conduct research on this school may get a headache, as I did, because it’s one of those places in Memphis fondly remembered by the young women who went there, but it rarely made the news. Thanks to help from my pal Wayne Dowdy at the Memphis and Shelby County Room, I turned up an old Commercial Appeal article that tried to summarize its history, but the reporter also complained about the “skimpy records.” So I’ll just tell you what I know.
I’m sure Sacred Heart had many students who went on to some measure of fame and fortune. Well, one of them did. Movie star Stella Stevens, back when people knew her only as Estelle Eggleston, attended Sacred Heart in the 1950s.
The school was part of the Sacred Heart campus, which included the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at the northwest corner of Jefferson and Cleveland, the Sacred Heart Convent next door, and a separate home for the priests.
The Catholic Diocese of Nashville opened the church and school here in 1900. I’m sorry, but I have no images to show you of the original school. The building you see here was constructed in 1930 at a cost of $150,000, which seems like a bargain today but was considered a hefty sum at the time, and it shows. Look carefully, and you’ll admire the fine stonework here and there. This was — and still is — a very attractive structure, and the architectural team of Regan and Waller (also designers of Immaculate Conception Cathedral) did a fine job matching the design with the other Sacred Heart buildings.
Another Commercial Appeal article, dated December 7, 1930, reported, “In a colorful ceremony, Bishop Alphonse J. Smith, head of the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, will dedicate the new Sacred Heart School at 3 o’clock this afternoon … and he expects more than 5,000 to attend.” As part of the dedication, “members of the Knights of Columbus, dressed in uniform, will serve as the guards of honor.”
That same article mentioned, without providing as much detail as I would have liked, that “the old building, which has been used as a church and a school, will be torn down after the first of the year. The ground will be used as a playground for the students.”
Praising the “Collegiate Gothic design,” the article noted, “The new school is one of the finest Catholic school buildings in Tennessee. It is three stories high and has 16 classrooms. Special rooms have been provided for commercial courses and science work.” The building included a library, cafeteria, and auditorium.
I found this last detail especially interesting: “The enrollment of the school is 550.” This was in 1930; I’ll tell you more about that later.
This may surprise you: When it first opened, Sacred Heart allowed boys and girls to attend. That explains why its football and basketball teams — known as the “Fighting Cardinals” — were able to play other schools in town such as Memphis University School and Catholic High.
“In 1935, it became a member of the Prep League — the ninth school,” wrote CA reporter James Cortese in 1978. “Sacred Heart played the first Sunday game ever at Crump Stadium, against arch-rival Christian Brothers. They didn’t win, but scared the bejabbers out of the Brothers, holding them scoreless until the end of the third quarter.”
Meanwhile, the girls’ teams did quite well, one year (1936) winning the Memphis, district, and regional championships in basketball.
“Scholastically, it fared well,” wrote Cortese in that same article. “Margaret Carlson, a member of the 1934 graduating class, as an eighth-grader won the city spelling championship and went on to Washington to win the national spelling bee.”
Over the years, I’m sure Sacred Heart had many students who went on to some measure of fame and fortune. Well, at least one of them did. Movie star Stella Stevens, back when people knew her only as Estelle Eggleston (above, at far right), attended Sacred Heart in the 1950s.
The Lauderdale Library has the photograph you see here (left), showing the Sacred Heart Class of 1940 posed on the front steps. Mulford Jewelers provided students with their class rings, so it makes sense (to me, anyway) they would sponsor the senior class photo. Also in my collection are several old Crest yearbooks, which show that Sacred Heart offered a full complement of courses: English, Spanish, French, history, mathematics, algebra, music, religion, biology, and physical education.
In its long history, the administration changed many times, but if there was a spiritual leader of Sacred Heart, that honor surely goes to The Right Reverend Monsignor Louis J. Kemphues. He served as pastor of Sacred Heart Church and counselor to the school for almost four decades, from 1929 until his death in 1967. He is standing at the left in the 1940 photo. Various nuns served as the school principal over the years; in the same photo, Sister Mary Lucian is at the far right.
In the early part of the 1900s, the school mainly drew students from the surrounding neighborhoods. “Students seemed to be mainly of Irish and Italian backgrounds,” wrote Cortese. “The Dwyers, McNamaras, Gavins, Murphys, Clearys, Doyles, and Ahearns. And the Peras, Gemiglianis, Gallinis, and Palazolas.”
Change came in 1946, when Sacred Heart became an all-girls school. The boys transferred to Catholic or Christian Brothers. I found no reason for this decision, but an unfortunate result was a decrease in enrollment. Remember that 1930 article mentioning 500 students? Well, the 1940 photo shows only 27 women and four boys in the entire senior class. In the two yearbooks in my collection, the 1953 edition reveals that number had climbed to 36 seniors, with a total enrollment of only 180.
“We always knew how to throw a great party with little money and a lot of imagination. One year, we were able to have the Bar-Kays for a Valentine’s Day dance at The Peabody.” — Patricia Jacobs, Class of 1969
With so few students it simply wasn’t feasible to keep the large school open. In 1970, the Catholic Diocese finally made the decision to close Sacred Heart School. The building is now home to the Catholic Diocese of Memphis and Catholic Charities of West Tennessee. The Sacred Heart Church remains very active in the community, serving as the religious center for hundreds of Hispanic and Vietnamese families (offering online sermons only during the covid-19 pandemic).
I happen to know quite a few Memphians who went there. Patricia Jacobs graduated from Sacred Heart in 1969. “A Catholic education was very important to my family,” she says. “We picked Sacred Heart because I had cousins there and my mother was an alumna there.”
She has nothing but good memories of the old school. “I had outstanding teachers,” she says, singling out her algebra teacher, Lucinda Savage Faber, as one “who expected her students to work hard, and we did not want to disappoint her. I also had wonderful English, Spanish, and science teachers.”
And life at Sacred Heart wasn’t all classwork. “I have great memories of our proms and dances,” she says. “We always knew how to throw a great party with little money and a lot of imagination. One year, we were able to have the Bar-Kays for a Valentine’s Day dance at The Peabody.”
Members of her class were able to visit their former school in 2019, as part of their 50th reunion activities. “The first two stories now house Catholic Charities,” she says, “but the third floor was still classrooms, just as when we went there, so that brought back memories for all of us.”
Like so many Sacred Heart students, Jacobs says she was “very sad that the doors closed for the last time, just the year after I graduated. I always feel very nostalgic when I go by there, but I feel very blessed to have such happy memories of my high school years.”
By the way, there's a Facebook group devoted to life at Sacred Heart School in the 1960s. Go here if you'd like to join it.
Got a question for Vance?
Email: askvance@memphismagazine.com
Mail: Vance Lauderdale, Memphis magazine, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101
