Our Lady of Good Counsel, Oak Cliff — 1901-1961
by Paula Bosse
Our Lady of Good Counsel, 1944… (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
Talking to my aunt today reminded me that she briefly attended Our Lady of Good Counsel, the all-girls Catholic high school in Oak Cliff next to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, at the northwest corner of North Marsalis (originally named Grand Avenue) and 9th Street. I’m still not sure why she went there (our family isn’t Catholic), but she seems to have enjoyed her time there for a year or two before she transferred to Crozier Tech.
The school building was the former palatial home of wealthy businessman James T. Dargan, a one-time partner of Thomas L. Marsalis. The house was built about 1888, and according to Dallas Rediscovered author William L. McDonald, it was designed by the Dallas architectural firm of Stewart and Fuller.
1889 Dallas directory
The church was holding services in Oak Cliff as early as 1901, and an affiliated school was established by Rev. Francis P. Maginn in September of that year. It appears that the Dargan house was acquired in 1902, the same year that the (new?) church building was dedicated in ceremonies officiated by Bishop E. J. Dunne.
Below, the new church can be seen in a photo which appeared in The Dallas Morning News on the day of its dedication in June, 1902 (all images are larger when clicked):
DMN, June 15, 1902
The neighboring school can be seen in these two early photos:
Our Lady of Good Counsel, ca. 1902
Our Lady of Good Counsel, ca. 1905
The school’s founder, Rev. F. P. Maginn:
DMN, June 15, 1902
DMN, April 23, 1902
And an early ad for the school, from 1903 (“Discipline mild, yet firm”):
1903
Here it is in 1942:
And here are some of the LGC high school students from 1944, looking bobby-soxer-y (with another view of the augmented house in the lower left corner):
The newest additions to the building can be seen in the 1959 yearbook:
In 1961, Our Lady of Good Counsel was a fast-fading memory: a new 32-acre campus had been acquired and on it had been built the new (coed) Bishop Dunne High School. Mr. Dargan’s old house-turned-school-building was torn down a few years later, and the land became a parking lot for the Blessed Sacrament church next door (which had also seen many changes and a new building over the years). Today, the view of the land the Dargan house sat on 130 years ago looks like this. (The church looks like this.)
The church in 1930:
And in 1958 (from the LGC yearbook):
This visual aid will help give an idea of the acreage of both the school (circled in red) and the church (circled in blue), via the 1905 Sanborn map:
I’m still not sure why my aunt went there….
1958
UPDATE: For those who might have wanted to see some interior photos, I didn’t find many, other than typical classroom shots, but here are some additional photos, a couple of which show the hallway.
Between classes, 1959:
Girls lining up to go into class, 1960:
Girls outside playing volleyball, 1960:
I had erroneously assumed that LGC was an all-girls 4-year high school; I believe it was a 12-year school, with boys and girls up to high school level, when it became girls-only. This photo appeared in the 1960 yearbook with the following caption: “The safety of all LGC students is the responsibility of the school as long as the students are on campus. For this reason, Officer H. A. Baxtley is available every day as a gracious escort for our little ‘Lions’ across the busy Ninth and Marsalis intersection.”
And finally, because I’m such a movie nerd who loves character actors, I was happily surprised to see that the actress K Callan was a 23-year-old drama teacher (etc.) at the school in 1959 before she entered the professional acting world of New York and Hollywood. (Callan was born in Dallas as Katherine “Kay” Borman and actually attended Our Lady of Good Counsel as a student before she taught there.) (UPDATE: Read K’s memories of her time at LGC in the comments, here.)
***
Sources & Notes
All photos of the school (except the one from 1905) are from various editions of Reveries, the yearbook for Our Lady of Good Counsel.
The 1902 photo was posted in the Dallas History Guild Facebook group.
The 1905 photo is from Dallas Rediscovered by William L. McDonald (p. 215), with the following credit: “Courtesy of Sister M. Adelaide Mars.”
The Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church still stands, at 231 N. Marsalis; their website is here.
1942
*
Copyright © 2017 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
Notice the Patton Seminary also shows on the Sanborn Map.
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The Sister of St Mary Namur taught at OLGC and also St Edwards Academy on Main at Haskell. The two schools merged and known as OLGC for one year, and in 1962 St Eds became Bishop Lynch on Ferguson Road and OLGC was renamed Bishop Dunne.
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Thanks!
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Joe, (Christin’s Dad?), did you attend LGC? I did, from ’52-’60.
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Do you remember Louise Hanna?
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Suzanne, we carpooled for many years. I so enjoyed this article which I happened on this morning while looking up pictures of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Europe. Hope you are well.
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My mother and two older aunts graduated from LGC. My mother (maiden name Dennehy) was a 1944 alumna so she might be in one of those photos. I had two cousins (Vissings) graduate from there as well–in the 1950s.
My mother recalls the pleasant smells from a nearby bakery. She’s still alive at 90 (next week)!
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Dennis — if you send me an email (see my email address under the “About/Contact” tab at the top of the page), I’ll send you some photos of your mother — she might enjoy seeing them on her birthday!
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Loved your piece. I graduated from there in 1960. You omitted the fact that the Sisters of St. Mary founded and ran the school for all those years ( including the funding). The pastor invited the Sisters, but the administration and teaching was all theirs.
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I’d read about the SIsters of St. Mary Namur, but I was a little confused on the hierarchy (if that’s the right word). Thanks for the additional information!
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My grandmother attended LGC, my father as well. I went to St. James on Saner in Oak Cliff for the 1st through 6th grade. The parish changed the boundaries and I transferred over to LGC. My first grade teacher was Sister Agnes. Always remained my very favorite teacher. I was there for the 7th and 8th grade 1953-1955. These grades were held in the same classroom, therefore we had time to do our homework while Sister Williford taught the other grade. The Sisters of St. Mary also taught at St. James. My little sister, Jeanne, went to 8 years. The bakery across the street was the Holsum Bakery. (I think they donated bread to the school lunchroom). There was no AC in the school (don’t think it was invented yet), so the windows were always open. We were starving by lunchtime because of the aroma. Wonderful memories of my Catholic education
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Thanks, Dodo!
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Wow, my Catholic grandmother sent me to OLGC when I was living with her and my mom in I believe the mid or late 50’s. I do recall the bakery and it’s wonderful aroma! We lived on north Llewelyn back then, 114 to be exact which is still standing!
I’m 76 now and have fuzzy recall of my short time there! I’d love to locate any record of my attendance at the school at this late date, but considering the decades past, I’m sure it’s impossible! I do appreciate the memories you’re article have regenerated, despite my unfortunate lack of pertinent peticulars!
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Hi, David. You might want to contact the Dallas History floor of the downtown Dallas Public Library to see if they have any yearbooks in their collection which cover the time you attended OLGC.
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David, Did you have a sister names Peggy? If so she was in my class at LGC.
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Enjoyed the pictures and article although I attended our Lady of Victory in Ft Worth as a boarder from 1931 to 1942 graduation. Some girls from LGC Came over as boarders. The same Sisters taught at both schools on rotation some time. I’ll be 96 in May.
Tommie Jean Sherwood Roosmann, ow in Jacksonville FL
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Hello…I attended LGC fro 4th grade to 8th grade (1952 to 1957)…as you said it was coed from 1st to 8th grade. The nuns lived in the main house. Classrooms were on the left (south I think) of the main house. In one of your pictures you can see a fire escape…our 7thand 8th grade classroom was at the top. Immediately below was 5th and 6th grade. There were usually two grades sharing a classroom. I have a lot of stories from LGC. It was a good education.
I really enjoyed your article and seeing the pictures…lots of memories. Bob Macfadzean
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Thank you, Bob!
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I, along with with five others attended LGC from first grade through high school. Sister St. Anthony taught 3-4 grades. We had a lay teacher in those grades and I was in her wedding because she wanted a red head. One of my aunts, Betty Lucas Simmons went to school with Kay Callan. I was in two of her plays. Can recall classes in the original building. There were 9 girls and 2 boys in our 8th grade class had been in school with them since first grade. Also recall sitting on the floor of what used to be our auditorium in the original and playing a lot of games of jacks, somehow I have managed to hang on to my original jacks. At one time my grandmother, Geneva Lucas worked in the laundry of the school. Also remember when girls boarded upstairs in the convent Since I lived in south Oak Cliff I rode the bus to school and home every day, first to downtown and then transferring to another bus and walking up the hill to get there. Even with the new building we went to a small one for our science classes. Looking forward to my 60th class reunion this fall.
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Thank you, Jessie!
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Seminary a block away directly in front
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Do you know if J. D. Salinger ever visit the school in 1961?
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Not that I know of. Why do you ask? If he did, that would be cool.
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Do you have any information on nuns who taught in the elementary school of LGC from 1952 to 1956? Specifically â¦
Sister St. Anthony (4th grade 1952-5, older nun, classroom was up the fire escape on South side close to nunâs living quarters)
Sister St. Angela (or Sister Mary Angela, would sneak up behind you and tap you on the head with her clicker ⦠âBobby, I give you cookieâ (she called them âcookiesâ) ⦠(5th grade 1953-54)
Mrs. Quota (lay teacher, 6th grade 1954-55 ⦠I stayed in trouble with her)
Sister Mary Margaret (maybe 7th grade 1955-56, but do not remember ⦠took us to lunch room to learn to dance rock n roll ⦠I had to dance with her to Danny and the Juniors âAt the Hopâ ⦠embarrassed big time, she was whirling me around ⦠classroom downstairs on South side of house ⦠made me learn the âSuscipiat Dominus sacrificium de manibus tuisâ carry the cross and lead the procession one time)
Sister Mary Bosco (8th grade ⦠young type A personality, 1956-57, I remember she was taking calculus ⦠up the fire escape on South side of house, close to nunâs living quarters)
Sister Mary (only name I remember, music teacher, taught me piano for about 3-4 years ⦠she had a Steinway grand)
Also, information on anyone who was in 8th grade during 1956-57
Richard (Rusty) Harrison (played end on our football team in 8th grade)
Leila Jo Wood (may have become a nun)
Betty Martin (may have become a nun) ⦠I took her to the movies a few times, we rode the bus)
Linda McDaniel (her dad managed a Lubys
Jimmy Zimmerman (all around student type)
Verna Brunner (I think she and I had our first communion together in 4th or 5th grade ⦠the nuns gave us donuts and milk in their kitchen in the old house afterwards)
Jimmy Vermote (very quiet)
Joseph Toro (from New York)
Walter Rumens (fell out of a 2nd story windown downtown where his mom worked)
I corresponded with a nun who was in the Sisters of St Mary of Namur a few years ago and she had started telling me some of the history of some of these people ⦠until I told her I wasnât a Catholic anymore ⦠then I never heard from her again
Anyway, we enjoy reading your material about Dallas ⦠boy has it changed!!!!
Bob Macfadzean
1025 Piper St
Norman, OK 73069
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[…] She attended Our Lady of Good Counsel for a year or two and always spoke about that time with fondness. I wrote about the school in the 2017 post “Our Lady of Good Counsel, Oak Cliff — 1901-1961.” […]
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My sister was a Sister of St. Mary. She was one of the first nuns to teach at the new Bishop Dunne HS. Their Motherhouse is in Fort Worth, and there are very few of the older sisters left. Sister Patricia Ridgley is a graduate of OLGC, and still active with the Bishop Dunne council.
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Running across this article and the comments was a joy this morning. I attended OLGC from 1st through 12th…..never got use to the name Bishop Dunne. Reading the comments was as good as a reunion. Sister Charlotte and Sister St. Anthony taught me in 2nd and afternoons in 4th. Sister Mary Stephens taught music at both OLGC and Bishop Dunne. The fund raisers each year were creative. Usually we sold wrapping paper and ribbon. Then it was chocolate bars. And I will never forget the hot cinnamon rolls that could be purchase in the cafeteria for breakfast after mass. Thanks for this article.
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First the last commenter Anita Schenk is a very close friend of the family. I was great to see her name here.
I attended and as we grade schoolers called it LGC. Was there for grades 2 through 8 then it was on to Jesuit for a couple of years before we moved and it made sense for me to attend until graduation in 1965.
Hopefully some of my old classmates will see the give me a shout out. I only know for sure where one is. He is not in a good way the last time I talked to him a couple of years ago.
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John, I remember you from LGC. You were in my class along with Mark Freeman, Richard Walden, Donny Donovan, Don Zimmerman, Mike Farr just to name a few. Hope you are doing well.
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Did not read all the comments before I responded. Just saw the mention of Jim Zimmerman. His brother Don was one of my best friends at LGC and my 2 years at Jesuit. We were to roomies at Texas Tech but he decided to enter the seminary at U of Dallas and go into the priesthood. Additionally at Texas Tech Don’s older brother, Jim, was my big brother in Chi Rho Catholic Service Fraternity.
Sure would like to visit with both those guys bu it tough living at 8,000 feet in the New Mexico mountains.
My sister Marjorie also attended LGC.
JT
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John, are you related to Raymond Tallent? https://flashbackdallas.com/2015/09/26/trinity-heights-tallent-furniture-sunshine-home/
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I love this article! I graduated in ’62, from the “new” building, which would be Bishop Dunne. It was co-institutional that first year (boys’ side, girl’s’ side), but we didn’t care, since we were seniors and there were only freshman boys. In your picture of the four girls entering the classroom, I’m pretty sure the first one is me (closest to Sister), then my best friend Susan Gangl, don’t know the third, the last one may be Theresa Shing. So many memories! Sr. Mary Stephen was way ahead of her time — we sang Benjamin Britten! And we loved going to the Science building for dissecting frogs and for story time with Miss Beyt.
I graduated from UD, married, had four kids, all Bishop Dunne grads. Ran into Sr. M. Stephen at a few church music conventions over the years. She was glad to know I’m still singing, and my daughter is Music Director of our parish. Seeds grow to plants. . . . Do a search — it’s a beautiful song.
P.D.T.
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Hey all!
My mother, Judither (Krippner) Grimmett, went to this school. I have her high school ring (Mommy is 80 yrs old and living near chicago with my oldest sister! Im the youngest of ten!) And i was asking her what symbols on it meant… she can’t remember. I wear it every single day. I would love any insight as to the meaning of the insignia or whatever is on yalls school crest on the ring I wear daily for her?
Thanks so much in advance!!
email: ariellerod85@gmail.com
phone/text: 972-523-1578
God bless you all!
Arielle Marie Dominique Grimmett-Rodriguez
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I knew your parents! They were good friends with my brother, Geoff Dietrich. One of my daughters lost my OLGC ring years ago, and I can’t remember anything about it except for the Miraculous Medal set in the stone so it was visible on the inside. I loved that ring. . . .
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Thank you so much for your piece on LGC.
I wanted to add that not only did I teach at LGC from 1955 until 1960 something, I attended LGC. The kids who were seniors the first year I taught were freshmen when I was a senior. My years teaching at LGC were some of the happiest in my life. I loved those kids so much.
We had championship basketball and volleyball teams and a tumbling team. My students, my ex-husband and I physically built a theatre-in-the-round (The Arena Players) in the lunchroom and produced two full length plays annually plus took a one-act play to Incarnate Word’s Play Festival in San Antonio every year.
When I was a student at LGC, we also went to that same Play Festival and Sister Marie Josephine who directed our play, had friends at WFAA and we actually put our play on television. That must have been in 1953 or so. Sister Marie Josephine was a force of nature. When I accidentally started teaching at LGC at 19 with no idea how to teach, I modeled myself after SMJ!
Thank you for including me in your article. LGC was such an important part of my life that it meant a lot for me to be included.
It’s been fun to read letters from and about some of my ex-students. LGC we still love you!
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Thanks for the comment, K! I’ve followed your career for a long time (I was intrigued as a child to learn that someone could have a name consisting of just one letter: “K”). I had no idea you were from Dallas until I found the LGC yearbook photos I used in this post.
For more info on K’s career, check out her website. Here is the “Bio” page: https://www.kcallan.com/bio
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Hello OLGC alumni. My name is Phillip Young. My mother, Ernestine DeLeon, went to OLGC in the late 50’s. I believe she graduated in 1961. Is there anyway I can get a picture of her senior year picture in the yearbook? She married and went by Tina Young. Thank you!
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I went to LGC even though my parents weren’t Catholic.
And I worked with & DATED Bill McDonald who wrote the book on the wonderful old homes of Dallas. My grandparents home at 505 N. Ewing is in his book, and was published before we met!
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Ha! That’s a great book!!
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My mother (Dorothy Dennehy) from the class of ’44 is still alive at 95! She recently gave me her yearbook. Anyone else out there from OLGC from that era?
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[…] K Callan — seen in a scene at Love Field at 4:10 — was both a student and a teacher at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Oak Cliff.) From this clip, it looks like there might have been several of the telescopes around the […]
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