School History

A New Century
A New School in Houston

It was 1900 when 44 young boys gathered to create the first classes at St. Thomas College, in an unused building of the old Franciscan Monastery. Their faculty in that school-in-a-warehouse on the banks of Buffalo Bayou were three priests of the Congregation of St. Basil, led by the school’s founder and first principal, the Rev. Nicholas Roche, C.S.B. For the Basilian Fathers it was a further outreach of an ideal that had begun in 1822 with the founding of the order in Annonay, France. For Houston, it was the advent of a tradition of fine secondary education firmly grounded in the Catholic Faith, and consecrated to the promulgation of Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge.

From that temporary accommodation in 1900, the Basilians moved soon and briefly into another location on Main Street (later the site of the old Kirby Theater), and in 1903 took possession of a fine new facility on Austin Street at Hadley, where the school stayed and flourished until 1940.

The student population for the first quarter of the century was small compared to the nearly 650 enrolled today. The Fathers not only taught all the classes but worked in the parishes where they were all closely acquainted with the families of the students.

Tuition was twelve dollars a month (for those whose families could pay) and many of the students earned their way through school working after hours for their tuition. While the tuition today is much higher, the tradition of the tuition assistance still continues.

FROM THE EARLIEST YEARS, THE TRUISM OF A SOUND MIND IN A SOUND BODY...
has been a way of life at St. Thomas, where sports share importantly with the academics. The result has been the creation of a strong tradition of earnest competition and an esprit de corps that has come down undiluted to the present.

The school quickly created an enduring tradition of championship teams in baseball and football, beginning in those years and continuing to the present. St. Thomas now boasts of 11 interscholastic Varsity sports teams with the most recent addition of roller hockey.

As the years passed and Houston continued to grow and to expand, so too did St. Thomas High School. By the 1930’s it had become apparent the school would need larger grounds and quarters in coming years to stay abreast of its commitments.

In 1929, the Rev. T.P. O'Rourke, then principal, led the efforts to acquire a new site- an almost rustic location at the western outskirts of Houston - on the banks of Buffalo Bayou at the corner of Memorial and Shepherd Drives.

With the generous assistance of many Houstonians, the new school buildings were erected, under the guidance of the Rev. Leland A. Higgins, then principal. In 1940, the new school facilities welcomed the first classes.

HOUSTON’S BOOMING EXPANSION
Today, St. Thomas sits almost squarely at the city’s center, where it provides secondary learning for boys from every quadrant of Houston- a microcosm of the city’s growing diversity.

Over a time span that began when William McKinley sat in the White House and our own main street was still pretty much a long mud puddle, the body of knowledge available to the Basilian Fathers to convey to today’s students has been squared many times over by the recent "information explosion".

Despite the proliferation of information to be taught, the Basilian Fathers have found only redoubled reason to keep and to cleave to the motto so basic to their mission: "Teach me Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge".

The new Learning Center, the Computer Sciences program, the latest in Science laboratory facilities and Physical Education, the advanced teaching aids, the course curricula, as well as the Basilian and lay faculty themselves, contribute to the quality education that makes St. Thomas a college prep institution.

Underlying all, however, there endures the Basilian conviction that the spiritual quality of Goodness and the vital sense of Discipline must be prerequisites to the acquisition of Knowledge, which otherwise will fail its full purpose. That, above all, has not changed.

The Basilian Fathers are a teaching community, founded on and dedicated to that ideal, in 1822. Since Father Roche opened his first classes here, 21 Basilians, six of them native Texans, Fathers O'Rourke, Dillon, Magee, Allnoch, Scott, and Cooper have led the school as principal. Today, Fr. Ronald Schwenzer, C.S.B. continues to carry forward the same tradition as principal.

ITS RELATIVELY LONG HISTORY HAS GIVEN ST. THOMAS A RARE RESOURCE...
a large, loyal and distinguished body of alumni. From among these, St. Thomas has drawn together a cadre of outstanding leaders who serve the school as directors of the St. Thomas High School Foundation.

This group, which also includes Basilians, affords a pool of advice and expertise to the Basilian Fathers in many areas relating to the community, especially investments. A number of alumni also serve as members of the St. Thomas High School Advisory Board to offer advice and expertise to the administration in a variety of areas.

Over a span of more than 100 years, the Priests of the Congregation of St. Basil have led and operated St. Thomas High School traditionally from their own resources and tuition.

The Basilians have given this task the manpower of their Community, the best thought and work of the Congregation and the resources, often times meager, that were available in the way of funds, lands and buildings for this educational enterprise. With a few exceptions, tuition and the generosity of alumni and other supporters have provided the wherewithal to keep St. Thomas vital and in the vanguard of Christian-based secondary education for boys.

There have been hard decisions along the way. Many years ago, the Basilians and their advisory board carefully considered the possible advantages of moving the institution from its present location to a new site in the Houston suburbs. Arguments in favor of relocation were overridden by the determination to preserve St. Thomas High School’s invaluable characteristic- its central accessability to boys from all sections of our city.

CURRENTLY THE STUDENT BODY OF ST. THOMAS.....
represents 122 different zip code areas of the greater Houston area. The most distant students travel 35 miles each way while only 7 live within walking distance of the school. All other students carpool with other students and parents or use public transportation. This diversity of residential living further emphasizes the ethnic mix of the students: 15% Hispanic, 4% African-American, 6% Asian-American, 5% Asian, and 74% all others; 20% of the students are non Catholic. Thus, St. Thomas reflects an ethnic, economic and religious diversity which embraces all of Houston and makes for a very unique educational opportunity.

The quality of education provided at St. Thomas is reflected not only in its college prep curriculum with 96% of its graduates attending 4 year universities and 4% attending 2 year post secondary institutions but also in a solid Christian environment which emphasizes self discipline and personal responsibility.