St. Jude School at 1120 4 Mile Rd NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525 US - St. Jude History

A Brief History of St. Jude Catholic School

Bishop Francis J. Haas of the diocese of Grand Rapids established St. Jude parish in 1946.  The church was initially located on Plainfield Avenue.  On October of 1954, the young parish, led by Pastor Fr. Charles Brophy undertook a major fundraising campaign to finance a school, convent and eventually a new church.  The new facilities would be located on 36 acres along Four Mile Road, purchased from local resident Mable Morgan.  Although initially reluctant to sell the property, Ms. Morgan eventually agreed to sell when assured that the woodland nature of the property would remain intact.  In November of 1955, Pastor Charles Brophy broke ground for the construction of the new school.  The school was completed that summer; however, the opening had to wait until teaching sisters could be obtained to staff the school.  In 1957, five sisters from the Felician order in Livonia, Michigan committed to teaching at the new school. 

The Sisters staffed the school until 1976 due to shortages in their order.  The first lay principal, Mr. Joseph Maitner, was hired.  After serving as principal for 23 years, Mr. Maitner retired and Elaine Bertram was hired to take his place.  The current principal, Ann Rutowski was hired in July of 2005.