Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute

	Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute
	U.S. Historic district; Contributing property
	Spalding Institute is now part of the Spalding Pastoral Center
Location	401 NE Madison Ave.; Peoria, Illinois
Coordinates	40°41′47.61″N 89°35′16.89″W / 40.6965583°N 89.5880250°W
Part of	North Side Historic District (Peoria, Illinois) (ID83003588 )
Added to NRHP	November 21, 1983

Academy of Our Lady and Spalding Institute were Catholic high schools across the street from each other in downtown Peoria, Illinois.

The Academy (AOL), a girls' school, traced its lineage back to 1863. The Spalding Institute (SI), the boys' school, was founded in 1899 by the Franciscan Brothers of Mountbellew, Ireland, at the invitation of John Lancaster Spalding, the first Bishop of Peoria. It was one of the communities which left that religious congregation to split off and become part of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance, based in Rome, Italy.

The schools merged into one co-educational school, Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute in 1973.^[2] AOL/SI (also known as Academy/Spalding) was merged with Bergan High School to form Peoria Notre Dame High School in 1988, and the campus was closed at the end of the 1988–1989 school year.

Father Sweeney School for the Academically Gifted was also housed at the Spalding Institute building until its closure in the early 2000s. Joe Girardi is an alum of both schools, Father Sweeney middle school, and Spalding Institute high school.

Buildings on the campus are contributing properties of the North Side Historic District.

Notable alumni

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (SI, 1913) Venerable Sheen to be beatified; in his bio he recalls it run by the Brothers of Mary.^[3]
Archbishop Gerald Thomas Bergan (SI)
Pete Vonachen (SI)
General Wayne A. Downing (SI)
Actor Jim Jordan (1913)
Actress Marian Driscoll Jordan (AOL 1915)
Brigadier General Frank Rezac (SI, 1962)
Congressman and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (SI, 1963)
Congressman Darin LaHood (AOL/SI, 1986)
USDA chemist Timothy L. Mounts
Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi (AOL/SI)
Jim Ardis (SI, 1977)^[4]

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ "Our History". Peoria, Illinois: Peoria Notre Dame High School. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
^ 'Treasure in Clay,' Bishop Fulton Sheen, p. 13
^ "Mayor Jim Ardis". City of Peoria, IL. Retrieved October 21, 2015.

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.

[2] "Our History". Peoria, Illinois: Peoria Notre Dame High School. Retrieved October 21, 2015.

[3] 'Treasure in Clay,' Bishop Fulton Sheen, p. 13

[4] "Mayor Jim Ardis". City of Peoria, IL. Retrieved October 21, 2015.

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v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria
Bishops	Ordinaries John Lancaster Spalding Edmund Michael Dunne Joseph Henry Leo Schlarman William Edward Cousins John Baptist Franz Edward William O'Rourke John J. Myers Daniel R. Jenky Louis Tylka Coadjutor Louis Tylka (2020-2022) Auxiliary Peter Joseph O'Reilly
Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Peoria Parishes Holy Trinity Church, Bloomington Shrine Queen of the Holy Rosary Memorial Shrine, LaSalle
Education	Newman centers St. John's Catholic Newman Center, Champaign High schools Alleman High School, Rock Island Central Catholic High School, Bloomington Marquette Academy, Ottawa Notre Dame High School, Peoria St. Bede Academy, Peru St. Thomas More High School, Champaign Schlarman Academy, Danville Former high schools Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute, Peoria Bergan High School, Peoria Villa de Chantal, Rock Island
Priests	Gerald Thomas Bergan James Ryan John George Alleman Fulton J. Sheen
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