Zephiriny opened St. Ann's Academy in two brownstone buildings at East 76 Street and Lexington Avenue.

Initially conducted entirely in French, the school moved to English-language instruction, and by the 20th century, the Brothers anglicized the name to St. Ann's.

During the Theodore Roosevelt era, the school briefly took on a military air, with uniforms and a marching band.

[6][non-primary source needed] 65 years after its foundation, the school enrollment was 800 in grades one through twelve, and all available buildings were full.

[citation needed] Archbishop Thomas Edmund Molloy, the Ordinary of the Diocese of Brooklyn, offered the Marist Brothers a 6-acre (24,000 m2) site he had purchased in central Queens County.

In 1956, at the request of the Diocesan bishop, Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy, a high school in East Elmhurst was opened as Msgr.

Joseph V. McClancy's priestly, energetic, scholarly nature as he contributed so much to Catholic Education.