Preserving Franciscan values for the future means looking into our past.

The Sisters of St Francis are the women Franciscan Preserve is trying to idolize and memorialize. What they did has changed the history of the United States if not the entire world. They educated society on how to accept people with disabilities. We will walk through a brief history of our beautiful campus and try to shed some light on the most frequently asked questions we get.

Children of all ages and with varying types of disabilities were brought here to the original St Coletta Campus. Children with complete loss of physical and mental control all the way to children with minor learning disabilities, such as ADHD. When children were brought here they were sometimes brought by their families and continuously provided for and visited by family. Sometimes they were left with a lump sum of cash, sometimes they were left behind with nothing- never to see their family again. In some cases, they were brought from orphanages across the state, when they could not be cared for properly. From the ages of 0-18. Families and societies who could no longer bear the burden of taking care of a child with disabilities would bring them here. Trusting that someone they didn’t know, would care for them. The Sisters of St Francis would open their doors, arms and hearts for these children. They would nurture, teach, and love these children as if they were their own. 

At one point the ratio of Sister to child was 1:5. (103 Sisters to 500+ children). That did not mean that those five children had undivided attention from one Sister. Each Sister spread their love unconditionally, and unmeasurably across every single one of those 500+ children. Each sister had her own role on campus (cooking, nursing, teaching, farming, cutting hair, laundry, etc.) 

The timeline of the campus starts in 1864 when the convent was first built. However, it wasn’t entirely used until 1904 when the real need was uncovered. 1904 brought our beloved sisters back to the convent; and by the end of the year, there were 11 children enrolled at the St Coletta School for Backward Youth. From 1904 through 1915, approximately 70 students were enrolled and the St Anthony (1909) and Sacred Heart (1915) buildings were built to house the growing number of students as well as an infirmary and classrooms. The 1920s brought with it a surge of students as well as the St Theresa school building (1927), St Mary’s Infirmary (1927), and St Joseph (1921)- a dormitory and chapel space. Two sisters attended the Vineland Training School to learn innovative techniques in special education like the Stanford-Binet Scale for IQs.Throughout the next few decades, children continued to fill the campus from across the state, the midwest, and event the country. 

The children were trained in trades across the campus of St Coletta. They would learn how to cut each others hair, how to farm and garden, butchering livestock, cooking, cleaning, nursing people back to health, etc. In the 1940s the first section of the hotel was built to house visiting families and the students were taught how to run the hotel. The hotel was named Serra Hall, after Father Serra, a California Missionary. 

In 1949 Joseph Kennedy brought his daughter Rosemary Kennedy to St Coletta. A few things to note about Rosemary Kennedy:

• Her prefrontal lobotomy was performed in 1941 at the age of 23, on the east coast at George Washington University School of Medicine by Dr. James W. Watts and Dr Walter Freeman.

• She lived at Craig House (a private psychiatric hospital) immediately following her lobotomy. Only Joseph Kennedy knew of Rosemary's whereabouts and condition. It was said that she was abused at this facility and was then moved to the St Coletta Campus in 1949.

• Rosemary was not housed on this part of the campus, rather at an off site, more private location, that was paid for by her father Joseph Kennedy.

• The Kennedy’s donated several buildings and had the first special olympics swim meet at our olympic sized pool.

• When Joseph Kennedy suffered a stroke, the family was made aware of Rosemary Kennedy’s whereabouts and were finally able to see her after almost 20 years.

• No Lobotomies were EVER performed on this campus, there was a small operating room on the campus. It was used for minor surgeries and procedures.

• Rosemary passed away at a hospital in Fort Atkinson at the age of 86.

• (Should you want additional information on Rosemary Kennedy, there are two books we recommend, The Missing Kennedy by Elizabeth Kohler Pentacoff and Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson)

Eventually the campus had another growth spurt to accommodate the number of students that were being enrolled. St Coletta was at its prime in the 1950s which can only be described as bitter sweet. From the 1930s until the 1960s St Coletta had to resort to sending some students to state facilities once they turned 15 when the campus was at capacity. They accommodated as much as they could however there were times that they had to send children away. In the 1950’s the sisters of St Francis of Assisi developed a curriculum series for special needs children. They also published a resource book for families with developmentally disabled children called “The Challenge of the Retarded Child” to help keep children in their family homes. 

In the mid 1900s most of the nation held to a standard that families should not see loved ones who had developmental troubles, as they felt that a disruption in daily regiment would upset the individual. St Coletta School never held this standard and encouraged loved ones to visit.

In 1953 the “New Chapel” was built to be able to house all students and staff at one church service. The “Old Chapel” was then converted into a large dining hall. In 1960 the St Anastasia dormitory was built to house older students and to keep from having to send children into state run facilities. In 1963 the St James addition was added to the St Theresa school building to adapt to a growing and expanding educational curriculum. 

The final phase for this beautiful campus was spread over a decade. In 1974 the Pods were built (Jupiter, Bernard and Francis) as additional classroom spaces. In 1981 Haskett Hall was built to house students that were now adults. In the 1980s there was a dwindling need for visiting family lodging so St Coletta built an addition on to Serra Hall in 1984 and converted it into a dormitory for older students.

The Sisters of St Francis of Assisi educated a nation on the treatment of special needs individuals. Eventually the school was closed. The final graduating class graduated in the late 90s. This was not for lack of being successful. On the contrary, the Sisters integrated these individuals back into society and taught them trades. They developed and influenced curriculums specifically for these individuals for schools across the nation. The St Coletta headquarters was moved, in 2011, to the Alverno building just North of our campus on highway Y. They are still making strides to better the lives of those differently abled than the rest of us. Should you like more information on what St Coletta is up to today or further history, please visit, www.stcolettawi.org