“All Saints Historic District From Glory to Glory”

All Saints School was founded in 1884 by Bishop William Hobart Hare as an Episcopalian boarding school for daughters of missionary clergyman and other young women in Dakota Territory. In memory of his late wife and in tribute to all women, he chose the school motto ‘From Glory to Glory,' which was inscribed in the polished Sioux quartzite cornerstone.

When Bishop Hare selected Sioux Falls as the site for the proposed school, the community responded by raising $10,000 in money and land to establish it. This included a five acre tract on a hill at the south edge of town that was donated by Artemus Gale, a prominent local real estate agent. Other gifts of money came from women in the east, including $3,000 from the wife of John Jacob Astor, owner of the American Fur Trading Company. The original school building with its distinctive Venetian Gothic architecture was designed by Wallace L. Dow. It included the chapel, which was later embellished with stained Tiffany windows, as well as classrooms and living quarters for teachers, students, and Bishop Hare.

Although the school opened in 1885 with 14 boys and girls in all grades, within a year 43 girls, both day and boarding students, made Bishop Hare’s vision of a girls’ boarding school a reality. For almost half-a-century, sisters from the Peabody family in Minnesota provided leadership as principals and teachers of as many as 88 girls a year, from elementary grades through high school. Girls in middy blouse and skirt or sweater and skirt uniforms were a familiar sight to Sioux Falls residents as they played on the school grounds, skated on the ice rink, or walked two- by-two to Cavalry Cathedral on Sundays. Eventually a gym enabled the girls to participate in basketball and volleyball. Field day in which classes competed with each other in athletic events was held yearly on Bishop Hare’s birthday. The May Fete on the lawn, with a May Queen and a Maypole Dance in which all students participated, were also memorable occasions.

Bishop Hare believed that girls should be offered the same education available to boys, so laboratory science was part of the standard elementary and secondary curriculum. Music, art and foreign language study were also available to All Saints students.

After World War II, good high schools were available to most South Dakota girls and the boarding school became too expensive to operate. In 1951, All Saints converted to a private elementary and nursery school. By 1986, financial problems made continuation of even this school impossible and the institution closed. In 1996, two years after the property was sold, the

first senior residents moved into the restored and converted original school building and the new living units of the Waterford at All Saints retirement community.

Dedicated in 1997 by the Minnehaha County and South Dakota State Historical Societies and In memory of Bishop Conrad H. Gesner by his loving wife Claudia

Minnehaha County, 111 West 17th Street, Sioux Falls Waterford at All Saints (2006)