In 1887, two years after starting a hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota, St. John's Abbey gave the sisters the minor seminary which was part of the monks' St. Clement Priory building complex of church, rectory and school in Duluth. Encouraged by the success of their hospital in St. Cloud, the sisters converted the seminary to a hospital and named it St. Mary's Hospital (2nd building on the right ). The hospital was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Benedictine sisters in Duluth when they branched off from St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, MN, to form an independent convent in Duluth in 1892 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Image of a steam powered shovel sitting on a railroad track. Land is barren, multiple tracks cross the landscape. Town of Virginia extends beyond the boundaries of the mine, separated by a fence. Note the rows of iron ore cars in the background. Oliver Mining Company owned this mine.
The student body and faculty of Sacred Heart Academy in 1893. When the Benedictine Sisters came to Duluth to establish and independent foundation in 1892, they moved into two rented townhouses in the newly-completed Munger Terrace. They immediately established a school for girls, Sacred Heart Academy, which occupied one of the townhouses. The school enrolled students from elementary through secondary grades. The 1893 students are shown here. In the third row from bottom is Mother Scholastica Kerst, in the fourth row Sister Pauline Dunphy and Sister Florentine Cannon, and in the fifth row Sister Leonissa Sauber.
1904 photo of the dam on Chester Creek forming a stock pond on the Benedictine Sisters' farm. In 1900, the Duluth Benedictine sisters purchased the first 80 acres of what would be their Kenwood campus. This parcel had been used as a farm for a number of years. Chester Creek, which runs through the property had been dammed to produce a stock pond. This photograph faces north, with what is now Niagara Street in the background.