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Dec 31, 1979
National Register of Historic Places - St. Michael's School and Convent (Holy Trinity Convent)
Statement of Significance: St. Michael's Convent and School was built in 1872, the same year the first railroad reached Brown County. Buildings designed for institutional purposes (and reflecting the influence of the high styles often reserved for such buildings) dating from this early period of settlement are rare in this section of the state. The Convent and School was constructed under the direction of Father Alexander Berghold, who had established the first Catholic Church in New Ulm in 1869. Labor and materials were donated by the parishioners in the construction of the building. It housed a school taught by lay teachers until 1874, when the sisters of Christian Charity took over operations. The school was moved to larger quarters in 1882, but the 1872 building has served as a residence for the order (and, occasionally as a boardinghouse for students) continuously through the present day. Berghold was also the author of several volumes dealing with the history of New Ulm and of the Indian War. The polychromed building materials, corbelled cornice, and repetitive fenestration pattern of the round-arched windows of the Italianate 1872 section - as well as the sympathetic Second Empire mansard addition - make the building a handsome surviving example of early institutional architecture. The use of somewhat similar cornice ornament, round-arched windows, and red brick help to integrate the later Gothic chapel into the entire composition. Most early urban institutional buildings (primarily schools but also such structures as hospitals or government buildings) which remain in New Ulm and Brown County date from around the turn of the century and later and reflect the styles of architecture popular at the times of construction. St. Michael's Convent and School is singularly important as a very well-preserved example of institutional architecture (here incorporating elements of the Italianate and Second Empire, and the Gothic in a later addition) utilized during the first decades of settlement.
National Register of Historic Places - St. Michael's School and Convent (Holy Trinity Convent)
Statement of Significance: St. Michael's Convent and School was built in 1872, the same year the first railroad reached Brown County. Buildings designed for institutional purposes (and reflecting the influence of the high styles often reserved for such buildings) dating from this early period of settlement are rare in this section of the state. The Convent and School was constructed under the direction of Father Alexander Berghold, who had established the first Catholic Church in New Ulm in 1869. Labor and materials were donated by the parishioners in the construction of the building. It housed a school taught by lay teachers until 1874, when the sisters of Christian Charity took over operations. The school was moved to larger quarters in 1882, but the 1872 building has served as a residence for the order (and, occasionally as a boardinghouse for students) continuously through the present day. Berghold was also the author of several volumes dealing with the history of New Ulm and of the Indian War. The polychromed building materials, corbelled cornice, and repetitive fenestration pattern of the round-arched windows of the Italianate 1872 section - as well as the sympathetic Second Empire mansard addition - make the building a handsome surviving example of early institutional architecture. The use of somewhat similar cornice ornament, round-arched windows, and red brick help to integrate the later Gothic chapel into the entire composition. Most early urban institutional buildings (primarily schools but also such structures as hospitals or government buildings) which remain in New Ulm and Brown County date from around the turn of the century and later and reflect the styles of architecture popular at the times of construction. St. Michael's Convent and School is singularly important as a very well-preserved example of institutional architecture (here incorporating elements of the Italianate and Second Empire, and the Gothic in a later addition) utilized during the first decades of settlement.
Dec 31, 1979
Posted Date
Jul 27, 2022
Historical Record Date
Dec 31, 1979
Source Name
National Register of Historic Places
