Arcadia

Route 72

Built East of Arcadia in the Roselle area, Route 72 is a scenic drive through a resort area. Route 72 approaches Arcadia and Ironton from the east.

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Ursuline Academy

Arcadia High School was founded in 1846 by the Rev. Jerome C. Berryman of the Methodist Episcopal Church-South. (The Methodist Episcopal Church had split in 1844-1845 to a North and South division over the question of slave ownership by their preachers.) By 1851 Rev. Berryman had changed the name to Arcadia College. The school was sold in 1877 to the Ursuline Sisters, initially listed as the Ursuline Convent and Academy, then later as the Arcadia College and Academy of the Ursuline Sisters for Young Ladies, and later the Ursuline Academy for Young Ladies. It functioned as a school until 1971; some Ursuline Sisters stayed on running a nursery school until 1988, when that school was closed, and in 1992, the buildings were sold to a private developer (Lawrence Gwaltney).

The current buildings all date to the time of the Ursuline Sisters. One of the two buildings of the earlier Methodist Episcopal Church-South school was torn down and replaced by a new brick dining hall in 1914, and the second Methodist Episcopal Church-South building was destroyed by fire on February 9, 1917, and replaced in 1918 by the current administration building. St. Joseph's Chapel was begun in the fall of 1907, and dedicate in April of 1909 by Cardinal Glennon. The architect was Brother Anselm, O.F.M., a Franciscan friar. He modeled the chapel after St. Anthony's Church in St. Louis, according to an article at the time of the dedication in 1909. The Romanesque Revival brick style was said to have been used earlier by the St. Louis Ursulines in the 1888 Ursuline Convent built in St. Louis, so the choice of style may have been requested by the Ursuline Sisters, in conjunction with Brother Anselm. This is the most ornate building of the complex, with red brick walls with cut limestone ornamentation.

The chapel has a slate roof, with red tiles along the ridgeline, and ornamental copper finals in several locations. The bell tower also is of copper, with slate tiles, and is topped with an orb and cross which are covered with gold leaf. The central entrance is flanked by high round-arched stained glass windows, and a massive rose window directly above the doorway. The stained glass windows were done by Emil Frei Art Glass Company of St. Louis. All windows and doors of the chapel are topped with round arches, and a matching arched corbel table runs along the cornices of the main roof.

The "laundry building" was erected in 1888, and is one of the oldest buildings still standing in the complex. It is roughly 40 x 100 feet, with the main part of the building today standing 2 1/2 tall. The building originally had a flat roof, but in 1907, the second floor was added to the building, and the roof changed to a standing-seam gambrel form. The one-story extension on the south side of the building is the original height, has the original early flat roof, and retains the original small brick dentils and dog-tooth course ornamental cornice. All the door and window openings in the building are toped with segmental solider brick arches. The double-hung windows have some of the only multi-light sashes of the complex. The four panel exterior doors all appear to be original. The north wall of the building bears the marks of an early frame porch, now missing.

The gymnasium was built in 1930, and is the newest building of the complex, with some of the style elements that the St. Louis archdiocese was using in other religious structures built at this time. The entrance is flanked by pairs of windows which are topped by brick and limestone arches similar in proportion to the larger arch across the central entrance door. The door arch is accented with limestone voussoirs; those above the windows are outlined with curved limestone trim. P.O. 1841-date.

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