St. Clara Female Academy

This institution, together with the Female Academy at Benton, 12 miles (19 km) from the Mound, were established by Mazzuchelli, from the means which were furnished him by a wealthy sister, in Milan, Italy.

[3] The academy was originally located at Benton, Wisconsin, 12 miles (19 km) further to the northeast, and a sandstone structure was erected there for boarding school purposes, built in the form of a hollow quadrangle, after a plan in the European style by the founder, who was architect as well as superintendent of all the public buildings with which he was connected.

Adjoining the main building was another, erected as a hall for commencement day assemblies, concerts, lectures, and so forth, and capable of seating 2,500 persons.

An extensive cabinet of philosophical and astronomical apparatus is connected with the house, a large share of which was donated from the private resources of the founder.

At the end of his life, he established a female academy endowed with funds falling to his share as heir of a large Italian property.

For 10 years, it sufficed for the accommodation of the students and the professors of the Sinsinawa College for Boys, the Brothers occupying a frame house situated near by.

Benedict Fortune, members, at their annual meeting resolved, on September 3, 1855, to erect the west end of the college building according to the original plan.

[4] The academy was a Roman Catholic Institution, its corps of teachers a body of religious women of the order of Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, founded for the sole purpose of teaching.

After a lapse of years, this brotherhood found itself deeply involved in debt, and sold the estate to a business firm in Dubuque, Iowa.

The Board of Trustees of St. Clara Female Academy, at Benton, Wisconsin, determined to purchase the property, and carried their design into effect on March 31, 1867.

The remodeling of the building, which began at once, was finished some time in the summer, and in August, the furniture, with other portable possessions of the community, was moved from Benton to the Mound.

US$10,000 were expended on the buildings to make them habitable, and while the Benton place was retained as a novitiate, St. Clara Academy found a new home on Sinsinawa Mound.

[4] The very first year at the Mound, there were 115 pupils, and among them, ten states, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, were represented.

During the first ten years, 1867 to 1877, besides the above states, California, Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were represented.

During this first decade, the community had steadily increased its numbers and rapidly extending the field of its labors; 85 new members had been received and 16 new foundations had been made.