St. Louis University High School

Saint Louis University High School (SLUH) is an all-male Jesuit high school in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1818, it is the oldest secondary educational institution in the United States west of the Mississippi River, and one of the largest private high schools in Missouri. It is located in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. History SLUH was founded in 1818 by the bishop of St. Louis, Louis Dubourg, as a Latin school for boys known as St. Louis Academy. Classes were held in a one-story house owned by Madame Alvarez on the northwest corner of Third and Market Street. It quickly grew to include a college division, and the college was granted university status in 1832. The high school retained the identity of St. Louis Academy on the university campus until 1924 when it moved to its own facilities and incorporated separately under the name of St. Louis University High School. The school's new home, on Oakland Avenue, was a gift of Anna Backer in memory of her late husband and alumnus George Backer. That facility, also known as Backer Memorial, has grown considerably over the years and remains the school's home. The high school integrated when it enrolled John Carter, a sophomore transfer from Saint Thomas Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1946, one year before Cardinal Joseph Ritter issued a pastoral letter desegregating all Catholic schools in the St. Louis Archdiocese. While Carter did not graduate from the school, the first Black graduate of SLUH was Al Thomas, also a sophomore transfer and a member of the class of 1950. The first four-year Black graduate was Eldridge Morgan, a member of the class of 1951. In 1984, Paul Owens became the school's first lay principal. In 2002, Dr. Mary Schenkenberg became its first female principal. In 2005, the David J. Laughlin was hired as the school's first lay president.