ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC HALL (formerly ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC SCHOOL)

    Catholic schools in Zwolle had their beginnings in the 1800s, but it was not until 1915 that the St. Joseph’s parochial school was built by Father John Van Bokhoven, and was staffed by four sisters of Divine Providence. They were the faculty of the new school that included six grades.

    In 1920, the first graduates of this grade school, that had grown to include eighth grade, continued their education at the public Zwolle High School. In 1934 it was decided that it was no longer possible to continue to staff St. Joseph’s, but lay teachers were hired to teach the first five grades for one year, 1935. The school then closed.

    In 1940, the school was once again opened and the first three grades were taught by Sisters of the Holy Ghost of San Antonio Texas. The school progressed and at one time included grades one through seven, under a staff of four sisters and three lay teachers. The school closed for good in 1979.

    Tribal youth who attended St. Joseph’s tell of having to learn the English language and of being forced to abandon the old archaic Spanish language that many of them spoke. This language has been described by linguists as not being the same Spanish that is spoken in either Mexico or Spain, but an old form of the language that was learned from missionaries and mixed with Nahuatl, Coahuiltecan, and other Indian tongues. Today, a few words are spoken by an ever shrinking group of elders.