[1] The school caters to the Greater Grand Forks community in northwest Minnesota and northeast North Dakota.

[2] Sacred Heart School is located at 200 3rd Street NW, East Grand Forks, MN 56721.

Mother Scholastica purchased a three-story wooden building at the present southern intersection of Business Highway 2 East and 220 North to be used as a school, hospital, and convent.

[3] The school opened on the first floor in the fall of 1895 staffed by Sisters James, Gertrude and Josephine as teachers.

Sister Josephine recounted the following story: “Mother Scholastica came to the mission at East Grand Forks [and] Father Hendrick paid a courtesy visit to the convent.

[3] “When one of the sisters casually proposed a St. Patrick’s Day program [by the children] as a moneymaking project for the church, everyone, including Reverend Mother, agreed...

The sale of tickets was so large that no hall in East Grand Forks could accommodate the crowd which was expected.

Father Hendrick rented the Opera House in Grand Forks... "Just before the time to raise the curtain, Father Hendrick, very pale, came upon the platform, a letter in his hand and announced to the audience that the entertainment had to be postponed, that it would be presented in East Grand Forks free-of-charge [and] that the admission fee would be refunded at the door when the audience was going out.

In turn, the Bishop of Duluth was contacted and Father Hendrick was prohibited from following through with the music program in Grand Forks.

Members of the first eighth grade graduating class of 1913 were Marie Bowes, Ralph Carney, Rosella Carney, Amelia Crystal, Francis Driscoll, Alveretta Enright, Edward Enright, Bernard Kelly, Edward Ketter, Josephine Kingman, Marie LaBarge, Adorine McCoy, Franham Murphy, Genevieve Murphy, Cecelia O’Leary, Irene Powers, Frank Sullivan, Willard Sullivan and Frank Wurzbacher.

Recess was discontinued, and the new pupils [were] instructed in 1913 [on the] rules of etiquette, with such good effect that 19 still living are among Uncle Sam’s most law-abiding citizens.” In 1919, the direction and staffing of the schools was taken over by the Sisters of St. Benedict of Crookston, a new mother house formed from the Benedictines of Duluth.

Those first graduates of the high school division were Lawrence Butler, Michael Harrick, Alice McCoy, Leona O’Neil, Roland Roberts and Louis Sullivan.

Other members of the class who did not finish high school due to work obligations, religious commitments and other reasons were Frederick Borchers, Madonna Carney, Jerome Enright, Veronica Kane, Lillian Keller, Laura Kelly, Josephine Lickteig, Gertrude Powers, Albert Roberts, Aileen Sullivan, Vincent Sullivan and Elizabeth DeGagne.

Once such story about a senior of the class of 1924 claims that he “doubted the adequacy of his Sacred Heart School training by the time he came to graduate, for they say that when a senior, he one day dangled the flapping sole of his shoe out the office window as the ranks were coming in, calling down to the children to observe the condition of his ‘sole’ after 12 years spent in Sacred Heart School.” The story does not tell why he was in the office.

Members of the committee were John P. Bushee, chairman; Leo J. Herrick, Charles E. King, J. James Powers, and Albert Boushey.

Money continued to be a problem, and in late 1949 and early 1950, the Building Fund Drive was given a thorough reorganization, but the parishioners and community responded and, in April 1950, the overall plans were sent out to contractors.

The efforts of many groups went into the funding drive, including the students who raised money using certain walls of the project as their goal.

Two damaging floods and the lack of building materials caused by the Korean War delayed the project until the fall of 1950.

The physical expansion permitted by the new building prompted the faculty to make applications for accreditation with the University of Minnesota.

Students were allowed to take two elective classes, one morning and one afternoon, from such offerings as women's studies, design and engineering, computer literacy, drama, ballroom dance, cabinetry, welding, chemistry in agricultural research, etc.

This cooperative program with community leaders and volunteers enabled Sacred Heart to have an innovative curriculum greatly expanding the learning possibilities for students.

Sacred Heart has offered a number of sports throughout its history largely through the support of a dedicated Athletic Association, formerly the Men's Club.

This group of dedicated parents and friends of Sacred Heart raise the money with game passes, concession stand sales, vending, gym signs, sponsors, the annual dinner and social, and Fish Fries.

The Athletic Club Fish Fries have become an area tradition that today serves 800 to 900 every Friday during the Lenten season.

The Development Office is responsible for various fundraising activities such as the Rake-a-thon; Calendar Raffle; Scrip; Annual Drives with the parish, business, and alumni; and the Spring Fling.

Lumen Christi was developed to recognize alumni, staff, and friends who have had distinguished careers and/or have served Sacred Heart in a significant way.