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*On the Map*


St. Joseph's Elementary School is located in Bellevue, Iowa.  Bellevue (population approximately 2,500) is located in eastern Jackson County among the picturesque bluffs along the Mississippi River. 

 

*The History of St. Joseph's Elementary School*

Established by laymen in 1868, the first school was in a rented building on Lot 191, Second Street. German-speaking children were taught by a laymen. The following year the school was transferred to the basement of the new (second) church where all the children could attend. Listed as early faculty members were Charles Schumaeger, Clotida Clarke, Mr. Land, Mr. Goebel, Anna Lucke, and Elizebeth Reiling.

Three LaCrosse Franciscans, Sister Mary Adriana Muehlenkamp, Sister Mary Mathilda Lang, and Sister Mary Cecilia Muehlenkamp succeeded the lay teachers in 1878. They began with two classrooms and more than one hundred pupils. Father Schiffmacher taught the children the Church Modes of Plain Chant. Children who lived a distance from the school were boarders with the Sisters.

At the turn of the century, the seventy-five-cents per month tuition was discontinued. Henceforth, the parish would pay all school expenses.

A frame four-room high school building constructed in 1886 was enlarged in 1913, used as a grade school, and razed in 1930 to make room for a new elementary and high school building dedicated that year. Ten rooms were added in 1964 for use by the elementary school.

St. Joseph's Elementary School became part of the consolidated elementary school, Bellevue Area Catholic Consolidated School, in 1973.  Marquette High School and St. Joseph's Elementary School together formed the Bellevue Area Catholic School System which was renamed the Marquette Catholic School System in 2003.
 

St. Joseph's Elementary School built in 1930.

The St. Joseph's addition built in 1964.

*Philosophy*

   MISSION STATEMENT
OF THE EDUCATIONAL APOSTOLATE - ARCHDIOCESE OF DUBUQUE:

   The mission of the Educational Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Dubuque is to guide individuals to:

  • respond to God's call to personal conversation to Jesus Christ.
  • form and be formed in Christian community life
  • grow in knowledge of faith
  • participate in liturgical celebrations and prayer
  • collaborate in the Church's mission of evangelization
    MISSION STATEMENT
OF THE MARQUETTE CATHOLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM:

   Marquette Catholic School System  -  St. Joseph's and Marquette High School - shares the mission of creating a community where academic excellence and Catholic Christian morals, values and traditions are nurtured for the formation of the whole person.  Through the formation of positive attitudes toward the meaning of education in our lives, growth in understanding religious beliefs, self-discipline and respect for the rights of others, individual students grow and develop as Catholic Christian citizens.

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