Boarding School

Established in the early part of the 20th-century, this private religious institution was once a pillar of a small Mississippi community. The boarding school was overseen by sisters from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C., the well-educated nuns taught classes ranging from basic math and sciences to music, theater, and foreign language. When the school hosted a theater performance or play, the entire community would attend. The boarding school operated with only several hundred students annually, so class sizes were kept small. However, the school building served more than just an educational purpose. For many within the community, it became a social center for activities and fellowship.

Most of the students who attended lived off-campus, though a few chose to live at the boarding school on the upper floors. The nuns also lived at the school. The room sizes varied from large corner suites to small rooms with the width of a janitor’s closet. As the notoriety and prestige of the boarding school increased, students came from as far as Canada and Mexico to attend classes. After World War II, a steady drop in enrollment continued for the next two decades. By the 1970s, the school was operating on a bare-bones budget. The institution needed a minimum number of students enrolled to remain open. After several semesters of failing to meet the minimum enrollment, the school closed, and eventually the property sold. In the 1980s, another church attempted to repurpose the building. Unfortunately, that attempt also failed after operating costs were too expensive. The church vacated the building for a smaller structure and abandoned the boarding school. The historic building has been vacant ever since.

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