St. Teresa's Academy, 55th and Main, was built in 1910 on 20 acres of land out South to replace an earlier pioneer school, located on Quality Hill, not far from the Catholic Cathedral. The earlier school grew in enrollment and prestige and as the city moved south the Catholic sisters purchased the land for a new school, 20 acres for $40,000. There were no paved streets there at the time and no houses in sight. At first there was no electric light service and the Country Club street car line only went as far as 51st. Later it was extended to 57th, where a shelter house was erected. Father Thomas McDonald from Visitation parish at 52nd and Main advised the sisters to plant red clover over their grounds so that the yellow clay would soon be smothered with rich green growth. Mother Evelyn O'Neill was the principal when the new building opened. In 1916 St. Teresa's was established as a junior college for women and in 1940 Donnelly Hall was erected on the campus and St. Teresa's became a 4-year college. By 1962 the college had outgrown its campus and moved farther south under a new name Avila College. Mrs. John Pinkerton of the class of 1952 compiled a historical sketch of St. Teresa's when the school celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1966. The old building is still in use today. Enrollment this fall at the school is 523. Tall trees on the spacious grounds (55th-57th, Main to Wyandotte) today shade the old building which occupies space far back from the street. Kansas City Star, September 6, 1975.
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