Mount Saint Charles Academy

Mount Saint Charles Academy is a private Roman Catholic coeducational junior and senior high school located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence. History In the late 1800s, a significant number of French Canadians migrated to the mill town of Woonsocket, RI. A local clergyman, Monsignor Charles Dauray, sought to preserve the French language and Catholic faith in the region through education. He invited the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, a French Catholic congregation, to staff a school in the city. Mount St. Charles Academy opened on September 14, 1924 to a number of boarders and commuting students. Brother Josephus, SC served as the first principal. Three years after the completion of the school, Br. Josephus oversaw the construction of a gymnasium. The early curriculum included a wide variety of courses emphasizing academic and athletic training. In 1963, the Br. Adelard Ice Hockey Arena, named after the "Father of Schoolboy Hockey" and the first built to serve a particular school, was added to the campus. By the 1970s, with the closing of the all-girls' high school in the city, and following a diminished interest in boarding schools, the Academy was modernized into a Grade 7–12 co-educational day school. By 2015, Mount Saint Charles had expanded and incorporated the 6th grade to compete with schools in the area.