Powered by Grafix Web Works © 2012 - Saint Mary’s Catholic High School 2525 North Third Street - Phoenix, AZ  85004 - Phone: (602) 251-2500 calendar | parents | alumni | faculty History: Saint Mary's has been a part of Phoenix history since the school opened in 1917; just 5 years after Arizona became a State.  Founded by the Sisters of the Precious Blood, the first school consisted of 4 boys and 10 girls in dedicated classroom at St. Anthony's elementary school.  In 1920 Saint Mary's moved to its own one story home located on East Monroe Street.  In 1928 all male students were transferred to Brophy High School, leaving Saint Mary's an all girls facility.  During the Great Depression, Brophy closed in 1936, and the male students moved back to Saint Mary's.  At this time, the Franciscan Fathers set out to educate the boys displaced by the  closure of Brophy and built an all boys facility on the city block from Polk to Taylor, Second to Third Streets.  The separation of the boys and girls schools lasted until 1958.  The Polk street campus had 24 classrooms and a gymnasium with a maximum of 600 students.  From inception, Saint Mary's has always served a diverse population of students.  The first high school in Arizona to fully integrate, at mid- century, the racial mix of the school was 45% Hispanic, 45% Caucasian and 10% African American.   Diversity continues to be one of Saint Mary's strengths today, with 54% Hispanic population and 10% African American population.  The rapid development of downtown Phoenix caused Saint Mary's to halt its growth on the inner-city campus.  In 1988, the former campus was razed to make room for the Arizona Center.  The school moved just two miles north to its present location at Third Street and Sheridan to what was a former University of Phoenix campus.  The new facility lacked a gymnasium.  The Saint Mary's community rallied together to make the most of limited resources and built one of the first "recycled" building structures in Arizona.   With a prefabricated metal building that once belonged to Gerard High School, and several Saint Mary's graduates with construction experience, volunteers united and built a gym from parts of other buildings from across the city, including a donated wet-wood floor from Camelback High School's flooded gymnasium.  Lights, bleachers, scoreboards and backboards came from another school that was closing, and even an elevator was donated from a former graduate. Over 36,000 pounds of tile for the locker rooms and showers was donated from excess building materials.  The Saint Mary's community was able to reuse materials and construct a building valued at 1.2 million for just $400,000. Today, the Saint Mary's gym, one of a few locations without air conditioning in Phoenix, is an iconic symbol of community and family.  The facility is open 365 days a year, and has been the birth place of remarkable athletic effort and achievement.  After a series of moves and contributions, the Saint Mary's Campus continues to grow on 3rd Street and Sheridan.  In 2007 the school completed the Virgina Piper building which houses fine arts classrooms, computer labs and a 275 seat Wiegand Auditorium.  The history of Saint Mary's is more than a building or location downtown. Approaching 95 years, Saint Mary's has a long tradition of educating some of Arizona's most successful citizens, including prominent members of the business community and public servants such as the police and fire chiefs, doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians, religious and even as astounding number of professional athletes!  Members of the community fondly recall their experiences at Saint Mary's, many of whom were forever inspired by Father Blaise Cronin, a Franciscan Father who served over 50 years of his life as an educator, principal and chaplain of Saint Mary's.  The famous phrase, "Once a Knight, Always a Knight" is attributed to Father Blaise.  Today, students fondly rub a bronze plaque of Fr. Blaise for good luck as they pass through the halls.  The plaque reads, "Saint Mary’s will never forget."