Brief History of Jesuit High School at Oak Lawn and Blackburn
Super Brief History
In 1905 the second Bishop of Dallas, Bishop Edward Joseph Dunne, asked the Vincentian Fathers to establish a school in Dallas. Holy Trinity College opened at Oak Lawn and Blackburn in 1907 and closed in 1926. The building reopened in 1930 as St. Joseph Orphanage for Girls and was bought in 1941 by the Jesuits to establish a school for boys. The building was sold in the early 1960s in order to build our Inwood Campus. Turtle Creek Village, across the street from Holy Trinity Church, stands where our original campus stood. In 1992, Jesuit alumni placed a marker in the Village parking lot to commemorate our 50th anniversary.
If You Want to Know More
Links to Information about Dallas and the Old Jesuit Campus
Brief History of the Vincentian Fathers in Texas –built the original building
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ixv01
Brief History Holy Trinity College and Academy – first use for the Oak Lawn Building
https://www.lostcolleges.com/holy-trinity-college
History of St. Joseph Orphanage for girls – Second use for the Oak Lawn Building
This Dallas News article chronicles the history of Oak Lawn and includes the Jesuit Oak Lawn Campus
https://www.dallasnews.com/life/curious-texas/2019/03/14/dallas-oak-lawn-community-gets-start-curious-texas-investigates
In addition, our Archives has many documents and pictures. One way to learn more about our school history is through the Archives link, a work in progress which owes much to Joe Nava and Joan Degen.
http://archives.jesuitroundup.org/
