The Ursuline Academy is a historic convent and former Catholic school located at 2300 Central Avenue in Great Falls, Montana, in the United States.

Ursuline sisters continued to live in the building, but rented out its classrooms and kitchen spaces as a retreat center and a meeting place.

In March 1860, Jesuit priests established St. Peter's Mission on the Sun River about 8 miles (13 km) upriver from Fort Shaw, Montana.

[1][2] 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.

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.

[6] The sisters were strongly supported by Bishop Mathias Lenihan, who led the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls (which had formed in 1904).

The area was on a slight hill with a good view and relatively distant from the busy downtown commercial district.

[11] Construction by the local firm of Leighland Kleppe and Company began in October 1911,[11][12] and a pulley system, powered by horses, hauled brick and mortar into the air to the workmen.

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.

Rapid expansion in enrollment led to the construction of a detached gymnasium south of the western end of the building in 1925.

[10] There are also eight stained glass windows at the front and along the sides of the chapel, and the altar is flanked by statues of Joseph and Mary.

(Mother Raphael also painted backdrops for plays at the Great Falls Civic Center, and made vestments for Catholic priests in many area churches.

)[10] The Columbus Hospital School of Nursing opened in the city in 1898, and during World War II it greatly expanded its enrollment to meet wartime needs.

[10] Expansion of the Catholic educational system in the city of Great Falls in the 1950s and 1960s led to the creation of many more elementary and junior high schools with larger, modern facilities.

[15] With the impending loss of the high school, Ursuline Academy's days as an educational institution came to a close.

The sisters began renting the facility for meetings and retreats, using the dormitory space for guest sleeping quarters and the old school kitchens to provide food service.

To improve the center's financial viability, the Ursulines and foundation considered turning the former nuns' quarters (which were in excellent condition) into a retirement home for women, and finding more groups willing to use the busy retreat on weekdays.

Talks between the Ursulines and the foundation continued, in an attempt to reach agreement on a way to transfer ownership of the structure to the nonprofit.

[16] The Ursuline Academy is a four-story building with a five-story central tower, and is constructed of stone and brick.

[16] The property on which the building sits is about 60 percent smaller than it originally was, due to the sale of the high school and its football field to the city in 1974.

Mother Raphael's fifth-floor classroom is now an art gallery featuring many of her works, which include portraits, religious images, and floral paintings.

The museum also contains many Native American beadwork items and dresses donated to the Ursulines by tribes in Montana.

Antique clocks, hand-carved chairs, and intricately detailed tables—many made by the sisters at St. Peter's Mission—are also housed in the museum.

[10] The Ursuline Academy's meeting and retreat center can accommodate up to 100 people in dormitory rooms on the third and fourth floors.