VILLA

MADONNA

ACADEMY

A

Centennial

Timeline

1859 Mother Alexia Lechner and three other Benedictine Sisters,Ruperta Albert, Anselma Schoenhofer, and JosephineBuerchle, travel from Erie, Pennsylvania to Covington to takecharge of the St. Joseph Girls’ School.

1862 The Benedictine Sisters build aconvent on 12th Street.

1890 St. Walburg Academy is builtnext to the St. WalburgConvent on Twelfth Street inCovington. These buildingswill later serve as VillaMadonna College.

1903 To foster the health of the young sisters, Mother WalburgaSaelinger, Covington’s second prioress, purchases the W.C. Collins estate, the site now known as Villa MadonnaAcademy. October 13 dates the deed for the Academy’s new

home, an 86 acre farm with atwo-story brick house, barns,and various outbuildings. Thecost was $13,000. Fr. RhabanusGutman, OSB, pastor of St.Joseph Church in Covington,suggests the name VillaMadonna, which means“country seat of Our Lady.”

Pre-1904

1904 On September 4, Sister Helen and Sister Vincentia arrive asteachers. Marie and Gertrude Staggenborg, the first two students,arrive the next day.

School opens in the Collins houseon September 8, 1904 with 12boarders and one day student,Agnes Thornton. Sister VincentiaDolan served as first directress.

1905 Villa has three classrooms and sixgrades in the Collins house. OnMay 11, a tornado strikes, damagingwindows, slate roof, and the grounds.

A telephone is installed at the school, thanks to the encouragementof and contribution from Dr. Cleveland, who cites his concernregarding the school’s distance from “civilization.”

1906 Cornerstone is laid for the new Villa Madonna Academy building(with cupola) on May 24.

1907 High school commenceswith twelve freshmen.Elementary studentsnumber 37. Ten studentsare boarders.

1908 On May 28, BishopCamillus Maes dedicatesthe new Academy buildingand chapel, and blesses thebell.

1904 - 1909

1911 Villa graduates its first high school class: Katrine Adams, MaryBoughner, Agnes Mylor, and AnnaObermeier. Katrine Adams and AnnaObermeier later enter theBenedictine community.

Enrollment is at 50 students.

1913 Forty-seven boarder students spendtheir evenings cutting sod at thebottom of the hill, carrying it up inbushel baskets and planting itaround the school building, creatingVilla’s first lawn.

1915 Villa Madonna Academy affiliates with the Catholic University ofAmerica.

1916 Bishop Ferdinand Brossart visits theAcademy as enrollment reaches 100students.

In winter, blocks of ice were cut fromthe frozen lake and stored in theicehouse to keep food cold during thepre-electricity days of Villa Madonna.

1917 The Grotto is built by Mae Connolly Diskin.

Electricity is installed at the Academy. Prior to this a “Delco machine”in the basement of the school building provided power for lighting.

Alumnae Association is formed.

1918 Students boat on the lake for recreation.

Influenza epidemic.

First class in the Center Building, 1907.

The four girls in the front row became

Villa’s first graduating class, 1911.

1910 - 1919

1921 Villa Madonna College begins on the Villa property due to the needto educate more teachers.

Growing enrollment creates the needfor expansion. Oral tradition says theschool librarian, Eleanor Altenberg,purchases a prefabricated two storymail-order school building fromSears Roebuck with her own funds.The building, known as “The BrownHouse” is used until 1957.

Plays are held on lawn outdoors until 1937.

1922 Quelque Chose, produced by the French class and done by hand, is theAcademy’s first student publication.

1923 Villa Madonna Academy receives accreditation from the KentuckyState Department of Education as a Class A school.

1924 The Academy earns membership in the Southern Association ofColleges and Secondary Schools (SACS).

First school annual, Ros Maris (“Dew of the Sea”) is published.

1927 First bus purchased for Villa MadonnaCollege and Academy, replaces theschool’s original “Wisdom Wagon”, a

truck fitted with sidebenches and used totransport students to andfrom the Fort Mitchell car line.

1929 Villa Madonna College holds its firstgraduation, becomes a diocesan college,and moves to Twelfth Street in Covington.

1920 - 1929

1930 A water pipeline bringing “city” water to the Academy isinstalled, though lake water is used whenever possibleprompting former student, Sr. Wendeline, to comment“after bathing, the boarders smelled like fish.”

Last school year begins at St. Walburg Academy, alsosponsored by the Benedictine Sisters in Covington.

1931 On September 3, St. Walburg Academy students enroll at VillaMadonna Academy.

Stone entrance gates are constructedand the Sacred Heart garden andsunken gardens added to thelandscape.

1933 During the “Great Depression,” theschool cancels most social activities,including the Senior Prom, as students center their lives on “sodality,our charity work, and Ros Maris.”

1934 The science students stage a science fair and charge a nickel admission.

1936 School is cancelled from the first of January to the 23rd due to sub zerotemperatures. Temperatures of 22 below zero are recorded.

Mr. DeJaco stencils the Academy Chapel ceiling; the work exists today.

1937 Ros Maris includes several articles about the “Big Flood,” and Villabecomes a Red Cross station. Due to extended electrical outages

caused by the flood, students eat, read andplay cards by candlelight.

The elementary school gets two ponies.

The swimming pool opens on November 3.

1939 Significant enrollment growthcontinues.

1930 - 1939

1940 During a record cold winter students take up iceskating, skiing, tobogganing, and building snowmen.The more daring cross the frozen Ohio River.

1941 Mothers’ Club begins in May.

1942 As World War II rages, students play their part insupporting the war effort and establish a “PearlHarbor Club” for the purpose of buying defensebonds and stamps.

Tweed Twirl originates and becomes one of the

students’ favorite traditions.

1943 As the war continues, students serve as air raid wardens and conductair raid drills, dousing lights and putting up blackout curtains.Members of the Villa Junior Red Cross knit sweaters and scarves to“keep our fighting boys warm.”

Elementary school’s “Water Pageant” is held, including cork & tubraces and pinwheels.

1945 The biology class assists the war effort by collecting milkweed podswhich are used in making life jackets.

The Mothers’ Club holds its first Card Party in April.

1946 Villa’s first Student Council is established.

1948 Ros Maris, the school annual, celebrates its25th anniversary during the 1948-49 schoolyear.

1949 Knights of Madonna hold a dance to raisefunds for the proposed new high schoolbuilding.

Boarders enjoy

skating on the frozen

lake during cold

winter months.

Some of the seniors from the

class of 1946 arriving from a

trip on Villa’s school bus.

1940 - 1949

1952 VMA’s Mission Club purchases station wagon for BenedictineMountain Missions in Kentucky.

SEED, the Academy’s literary magazine, is firstpublished in November.

1955 Benedictine Prioress, Sr. Hilda Obermeier, one of theAcademy’s first four graduates in 1911, takes out amillion-dollar mortgage to construct the new highschool building.

1956 Groundbreaking for the new highschool building is held on May 18. Thecornerstone for the new building is laidon December 8 and contains a St.Benedict medal, names of all Villastudents and community members, a1956 yearbook, and a December 8 copyof the Kentucky Times Star.

Enrollment is 253, with 65 boarders and188 day students.

1958 New high school building is completed and dedicated April 27.

1959 Benedictine Sisters’centenary is celebratedby VMA and otherBenedictine schoolstudents in a pageant inthe Villa gymnasium.

1950 - 1959

1960 Bowling lanes installed in Activity Room.

Parking lot displaces convent sheeppasture.

1963 Villa’s “It’s Academic” team, a highschool quiz bowl appearing on localtelevision, wins the first of threeconsecutive victories.

Closed circuit TV installed in Villaclassrooms.

The last issue of Ros Maris ispublished.

The mortgage for the high school building is retired on October 23.

1964 Villa Madonna’s “It’s Academic” team wins second victory.

1965 VMA’s “It’s Academic” team wins its third victory.

Art students design and furnish chapel in the high school building.

1966 School’s band resurrected.

High School attains record enrollment of 342 students.

1967 In December, Miss Eleanor Altenberg celebrates 50 years as VMALibrarian and teacher, exceeding previous faculty longevity record.

1968 VMA student volunteers assist withVilla’s “Barn Project,” offering summerday camp for inner-city children ofCovington and Newport.

1969 First “Crazy Daisy Day” at Villa.

1960 - 1969

1970 Villa annual resumes publication as Kaleidoscope.

1972 Montessori school opens on grounds.

1974 Booster Club begins.

1975 Don and Ardyth Flottman chair first Villa-Rama,Villa’s major fundraising initiative.

1976 Students bury a time capsule, celebrating the country’sbicentennial.

Swim team wins 2 state championships and 3 runner-up titlesover past 4 years.

Villa’s enrollment includes boarders from Malaysia, Columbia,Mexico, and Nicaragua.

1977 Elementary school accepts male students.

1978 Thirteen days of school canceled due toexceptionally harsh winter.

1979 VMA celebrates its 75th anniversary.

Villa eliminates its student boarding program.

All classes moved to the high school building.

Original Villa Madonna building is renamed “Villa MadonnaCenter.”

1970 - 1979

1980 - 19891980 Volleyball team wins state

championship.

Monday night bingo begins as amajor fundraiser for Villa.

1981 Villa Hills Day Care begins operationon the first floor of the original VMAbuilding.

VMA becomes affiliated with the National Association ofIndependent Schools.

1982 Three new tennis courts are installed on the grounds, thanks tomany friends and a Greater Cincinnati Foundation grant.

1983 Villa Madonna Board of Directors adds lay men and women to itsmembership.

1985 VMA Board of Directors decides to welcome boys in 1986 to thehigh school program.

Major renovation of school ceilings takes place.

1987 Due to enrollment growth, four rooms in the Villa Madonna Centerare converted into elementary classrooms.

1988 First boys enroll in VillaMadonna Academy HighSchool.

Villa gets its first computerlab.

1990 VMA High School graduates 35 students, including its firstthree male students: Gary Dennemann, Michael Erpenbeck, andPatrick Dillon.

Villa establishes its first Middle School Governor’s Cup teamthat finished first in the district.

1991 Elementary school attains record enrollment of 313 students.

1992 VMA adopts the new school logo, “Going places…with excellence.”

1993 Villa Madonna receives $350,000 bequest from the estate of HelenWagner which is used for scholarships and special recognition forfaculty and staff.

Class of 1994 hosts first annual party for Brighton Centerpre-schoolers.

1994 Sister Amelia Wolking becomes the second staff associate tohave 50 years of uninterrupted service at VMA.

1995 VMA closes its swimming pool in April.

1996 VMA has 3 National Merit Scholarship winners among atotal of 26 since 1959.

On September 3 Villa celebrates Becky Ruehl Day in honor ofher fourth place finish in the Olympic platform divingcompetition.

1997 Sr. Mary Rabe, OSB named “Outstanding Physics Teacher” in theState of Kentucky.

The cupola atop the VMA Center Building is replaced on April 9.

1998 Bingo ends at Villa in February.

Lake Cottage, built in 1905-06, is demolished to make way for newmulti-purpose building.

1999 Groundbreaking for the new Villa Madonna Sports Center is held May 16.

VMA Chorus performs at the World Peace Bell in Newport ushering in thenew millennium.

1990 - 1999

2000 Villa Madonna Sports Center and otherrenovations completed and dedicated byBishop Robert Muench in August.

2001 Time capsule placed by students in 1976 isopened.

2002 VMA High School is designated a U.S.Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schoolof Excellence in May.

Suzanne Sullivan’s (’40) estate bequests$613,000 designated for scholarships.

New ceilings and lighting in the halls and classrooms installedwith funding provided by the Parents’ Club, Diocesanfunding, and the generosity of individuals.

Wireless computer connectivity and new phone system withvoice mail installed throughout entire VMA campus.

2003 All classrooms are now air-conditioned thanks to the same funding asprevious year’s ceilings and lighting.

On December 18, VMA High School celebrates its second Blue RibbonSchool of Excellence award. VMA is the only high school in GreaterCincinnati to receive this designation for two consecutive years undertwo distinct criteria.

2004 Thanks to a grant in excess of $1,000,000 by ananonymous donor, work begins in May totransform VMA’s Assembly Room (oldgymnasium) into a new Creative and PerformingArts Center with added classrooms and a theater.Completion is scheduled for January 2005.

Sr. Clarita Anneken, OSB is chosen and honored by The CommunityRecorder as Northern Kentucky’s “Teacher of the Year” on March 4.

2000 - 2004

222004 - 2008

2005

2006

Villa Madonna Theatre opens - Bye-Bye Birdie is the first student production in new theatre. Villa Madonna Academy’s Middle School and High School place first over-all in their respective District Governors Cup competitions. Baseball team wins 34th District Championship.

Villa Madonna Elementary and Middle School chosen for National Blue Ribbon Award. .

Arts grant allows elementary students to develop and present original performances in This Schoolhouse Rocks.

2007