St. Patrick School and Immaculate Conception School student records

Founded in 1837 by Bishop John England, St. Patrick Parish was originally intended to serve the Irish Catholics north of Calhoun Street, who had previously attended masses in the home of Mr. P. B. Bouton on King Street. Because of damage sustained during the Civil War to the original wood frame structure, construction began on a new building in 1886 on the southwest corner of St. Philip and Radcliffe. In 1920 the "Chapel School" at St. Patrick Parish, which had been operating unofficially for some time, had 88 students and operated in combination with Sacred Heart and St. Patrick's Parishes. By 1929, Father Joseph O'Brien formally established St. Patrick School and it was dedicated by Bishop Walsh. After a generous donation by Msgr. Charles D. Wood’s family in 1934, Father O’Brien changed the name of the school to the Charles D. Wood Memorial School. Over the course of the latter half of the twentieth century more and more of the original parishioners moved out of downtown Charleston. Due to the demographic changes in the neighborhood during the 1960s and the merger of St. Peter and St. Patrick in 1967, St. Patrick became a predominantly African American parish and remains so today. The Sister's of Our Lady of Mercy operated St. Patrick's School from 1903 until its close in 1964 at which point it was merged with Immaculate Conception School. St. Peter's Parish was instituted by Bishop Patrick Lynch as a continuation of the work with the Black Catholics of Charleston by Bishop England. A school for religious and literary instruction was instituted at the parish by Fr. Folchi and was placed under the supervision of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1902. In 1917, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, at the invitation of Bishop William T. Russell, began their supervision of the school to improve the educational standards. In 1937, St. Peter’s School merged with Immaculate Conception School. Immaculate Conception School was founded in 1903 with lessons taught by Father McElroy in his rectory. Shortly thereafter, the Ursuline Sisters took over instruction at the school, located in a wooden frame building adjacent to the church building on Shepherd and Coming Streets. In 1906, the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy took over instruction from the Ursulines since enrollment had surpassed the numbers which the Ursulines were able to teach. In 1917 the Oblate Sisters of Providence began to instruct students alongside the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy until the school's closure in 1967. In 1927, Immaculate Conception School moved into a new building at 200 Coming Street and operated independently of Immaculate Conception Parish. Immaculate Conception School was closed in 1967 because of financial and facility issues, as well as the initiative to integrate the Diocese of Charleston under the administration of Bishop Ernest L. Unterkoefler. The grammar school remained open until circa 1972 and the high school was integrated with Bishop England High School in 1968.

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