Present day Roanoke Catholic School had its origins over a century ago when two lay women of St. Andrew’s parish opened a school in the parish hall of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in the fall of 1889. Four years later, in 1893, the sisters of Charity from Nazareth, Kentucky, came to teach in the new school. Important benchmarks in the school’s history have been:
- 1898 – A major gift from Mrs. Thomas Fortune Ryan provided the funds for the construction of a two-story red brick building. Ryan Hall was torn down in July of 1999 because of its age and new construction plans for the school.
- 1916 – A second Catholic school, Our Lady of Nazareth School, opened on Campbell Avenue.
- 1931 – St. Andrew parish constructed a new high school building. This structure currently houses grades PK-2.
- 1950 – Our Lady of Nazareth and St. Andrew’s schools consolidated their high schools to form Roanoke Catholic High.
- 1961 – The present high school building and gymnasium were completed.
- 1973 – All of the elementary grades were brought together in the facilities on the grounds of St. Andrew’s, forming the consolidated Roanoke Catholic Elementary School.
- 1980 – The kindergarten program was added.
- 1985 – The elementary and high schools were merged into a K-12 unit.
- 1993 – A preschool program was added. This program was housed at Our Lady of Nazareth Catholic Church due to the lack of space on the existing campus.
- 1999 – A multipurpose building was added and joins both the old lower and upper school buildings. This structure included classrooms, a media center, administrative complex, chapel, science labs and a new cafeteria.
- 2000 – The interior of the old upper school building was remodeled to convert the former library/office/faculty rooms into classrooms, and to bring internet connections to all the classrooms.
- 2001 – The preschool was relocated to Roanoke Catholic School Campus and is currently housed in our Lower School building. There are programs for four and five-year olds and partial full-day programs.
