School History

Excerpt from The Des Moines Messenger, Friday, June 26, 1964

On a warm and windy afternoon, hundreds of residents and members of the clergy from Council Bluffs and surrounding towns gathered atop the crest of a 200-foot high ridge which dominates a V-shaped 38-acre site formed by the junction of Highway 6 and Gleason Avenue, east of Council Bluffs.

They were present to witness the formal blessing and dedication of Saint Albert the Great Central Catholic High School by Bishop Edward C. Daly, O.P., of Des Moines.

June 7, 1964 will be recorded by future historians as a turning point in the history of the Catholic Church in Southwest Iowa. On this day the hopes and dreams of the early pioneer Catholics became a reality with the completion of Saint Albert the Great High School.

Prior to 1964, a number of parish supported Catholic elementary and secondary schools existed in Southwest Iowa. However, in the late 1950's, the winds of change began to intensify; many of the religious orders that had made parochial education affordable began to announce that they no longer had the personnel to be able to provide qualified religious as teachers and administrators. In 1962, a fund campaign to consolidate secondary education for Council Bluffs, Neola, Weston, Glenwood, and Missouri Valley was announced.

Saint Albert High School, a replacement for Saint Francis High and Mount Loretto in Council Bluffs and Saint Joseph High in Neola, was designed as a co-institutional school with separate facilities for boys and girls. A groundbreaking ceremony for Saint Albert the Great Catholic High School was held on May 15, 1963. Cost of the school was reported to be $1.25 million.

Saint Albert enrolled its first freshman class in the fall of 1964 with a student population of 153 and nine faculty members. In 1965, after Saint Francis and Mount Loretto closed, 471 students were enrolled in grades 9 though 12. Within two years of the opening of Saint Albert High School, elementary education was facing severe financial problems. In the fall of 1969, Saint Francis, Saint Peter's, and Saint Patrick's elementary schools were merged. In 1972, all of the Council Bluffs' Catholic elementary schools were merged into the Saint Albert Educational System.

Today, Saint Albert Schools is served by eight Catholic parishes in the Council Bluffs area. Operated under the direction of the Council Bluffs Area Catholic Board of Education, Saint Albert provides a quality, faith-based education to more than 800 students in southwest Iowa.

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