The order came to the Dakota Territory, in 1880 under Mother Mary John Hughes to own and run a free school, home, and academy. In the summer of 1882 the Presentation Sisters left for Fargo under the invitation of Father James Stephan and the recommendation of the regional bishop. Mother Mary John Hughes and her order of educators quickly set about teaching catechism lesson in the church while they waited for their permanent living and teaching quarters to be completed. In the Fall of 1882 they were able to begin regular academic curriculum for children in North Dakota. It was the first young, children’s school in the region that was not an Indian reservation boarding school.[i]
Mother Mary John Hughes and her companion’s journey to Fargo was a difficult one. They were originally sent to South Dakota where they were resolved to address the education meets of the “forgotten people.” The people within this group were women, who the Church viewed as a repressed minority, as well as Indians and African Americans. Their journey via steamboat on the Missouri River was riddled with sandbars and storms. Upon arrival at today’s Wheeler, South Dakota, their housing was primitive and spartan. Their new home was not at all like their idyllic convent in Ireland. While in South Dakota their students were primarily young Native American and French girls. Terrible blizzards and storms assaulted the school and eventually it collapsed.[ii]
After the literal collapse of the school Mother Hughes and the sisters were sent to a mining town in the Black Hills. They did not approve of the living conditions and the society in the town made them anxious, so after just a few days they left to return to Wheeler. On the way they stopped at Pierre to rest in a hotel, unfortunately for them the hotel was actually a brothel. Horrified, but unable to find other accommodations they took turns throughout the night keeping watch. Mother Hughes, who was greatly discouraged by all the unfortunate events almost returned to Ireland, but then they were invited to Fargo.[i]
Just four days upon arrival at Fargo, they opened a school in Fargo’s first Catholic Church. After a while they were able to purchase W. A. Yerxa’s home upon his departure to Minneapolis. Yerxa was one of Fargo’s first mayors. The sisters opened the home in September 1897 as Sacred Heart Academy. For almost nine decades the Presentation sisters opened ten schools in easter North Dakota. Four of these schools were Catholic grade schools in Fargo, all with the mission of “peace and justice through education, advocacy and compassionate service to meet the needs of people, especially the poor and vulnerable.”[iii]
[i]Knights of Columbus Catholic Truth Committee, . The Catholic encyclopedia: an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline, and history of the Catholic Church. N.p.: Encyclopedia Press, 1913.
[ii]Peterson, Susan C., and Courtney A. Vaughn-Roberson. Women with Vision: The Presentation Sisters of South Dakota, 1880-1985. N.p.: University of Illinois Press, 1988.
[iii]Helm, Merry. “Presentation Sisters.” Prairie Public Broadcast.
