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The Ursuline Academy is a historic convent and former Catholic school located at 2300 Central Avenue in Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. Constructed by the Ursuline Sisters, a Catholic religious institute for women, the building was complete in 1912. It was originally known as the Ursuline Academy Boarding and Day School, a school for children age five to 12. The building came to be known as Ursuline Centre in 1971. Ursuline sisters continued to live in the building, but rented out its classrooms and kitchen spaces as a retreat center and a meeting place. As of 2012, only one Ursuline sister continued to live at the site. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 26, 1991. ==Construction of the building== In March 1860, Jesuit priests established St. Peter's Mission on the Sun River about upriver from Fort Shaw, Montana. They moved the mission downstream in 1862, but this location proved difficult for agriculture. In April 1866 the mission moved again, this time to a position south of Bird Tail Rock (which is south of the modern town of Simms, Montana). The mission closed almost immediately due to hostility from the Piegan Blackfeet, but reopened in 1874. The mission moved again in 1881 to Birch Creek (a point about west-northwest of Cascade, Montana).〔Harrod, p. 53-55.〕〔Aarstad, p. 252, 318.〕 In January 1884, the new (and founding) Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, Jean-Baptiste Brondel, invited the Ursuline religious order to join the Jesuits at St. Peter's Mission and assist them in teaching converted Native Americans. Leader of the Toledo chapter, Mother Amadeus (Sarah Therese Dunne), led five Ursulines to St. Peter's in October. They quickly established a boarding school for girls (open to children of settlers and Native Americans). The Jesuits gave the nuns a farm to help them survive, and promised to pay them $200 a year to teach boys if more nuns could be brought to the mission.〔Schrems, p. 49-50.〕 The Ursulines built a large stone building between 1882 and 1887 which served as their school and convent. The school later moved into a two-story wood frame building, and the sisters built a bakery, barn, corral, laundry, and workers' housing. The Ursulines—who believed in music and art training as well as education in reading, math, and science—also built a three-story opera house at St. Peter's in 1896. In 1908, the wood frame Ursuline school at St. Peter's Mission burned to the ground.〔Schrems, p. 104; Porter and Scott, p. 39.〕〔The stone convent/school burned in 1918, causing the abandonment of St. Peter's Mission. See: Porter and Scott, p. 39.〕 The Ursulines decided to move the center of their activity to nearby Great Falls, which was founded in 1883.〔Aarstad, p. 274.〕 The sisters were strongly supported by Bishop Mathias Lenihan, who led the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls (which had formed in 1904).〔Porter and Scott, p. 43.〕 The Great Falls Townsite Company offered them any two city blocks. The Ursulines choose an area bordered by Central Avenue, 25th Street South, 2nd Avenue South, and 23rd Street South. The area was on a slight hill with a good view and relatively distant from the busy downtown commercial district.〔 Mother Francis Siebert oversaw the design and construction of the new building, which was named Ursuline Academy. The city agreed to close a block of 1st Avenue South and 24th Street South to create a unified grounds for the Ursulines.〔Porter and Scott, p. 42.〕 Noted local architect George H. Shanley designed the structure in a variation on the Gothic Revival style known as Collegiate Gothic Revival.〔Robison, p. 71.〕 Shanley donated a portion of his fee to the sisters, while contributions from the community and loans paid for the building. The Anaconda Copper Company, which owned the huge copper smelter in town, contributed the bricks.〔Kolstad, Polly. "Ursuline Centre: Take a Step Back In Time." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' December 1, 2006.〕 The cornerstone was laid in September 1911.〔 Construction by the local firm of Leighland Kleppe and Company began in October 1911,〔Federal Writers' Project, p. 153.〕〔Porter and Scott, p. 44.〕 and a pulley system, powered by horses, hauled brick and mortar into the air to the workmen.〔 The school opened for students on September 3, 1912.〔 Ursuline Academy was constructed on the northwest corner of the property. The north side of the structure was its main entrance. The eastern half of the property consisted of large gardens.〔 Two rooms of note were furnished at the time Ursuline Academy was completed. The first, the Green Parlor, was designed for entertaining guests, hosting teas, and special occasions. It was furnished with green rugs, upholstered furniture, and lightly tinted, translucent green window draperies. The room contained an 1840 harp made in France which was the property of Mother Angela Lincoln (a relative of Abraham Lincoln) and a baby grand piano manufactured by the Steinway company. The piano was the gift of a student, whose father gave it to her as a graduation present. The other room was the Bishop's Parlor, a private suite for the bishop and important visitors. The suite consisted of a sitting room, bedroom, and bath room. The sitting room was furnished with finely carved dark oak furniture and bookcases retrieved from St. Peter's Mission, and the bedroom with dressers made of cherry.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ursuline Academy (Great Falls, Montana)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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