The Notre Dame Academy and Convent is located at 3501 State Street in the

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

neighborhood on the north end of

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. It is significant for its ethnic association with the Czech population in

as the only school and convent of the Czechoslovakian School Sisters de Notre Dame (this is not the same order as the

School Sisters of Notre Dame School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide religious institute of Roman Catholic sisters founded in Bavaria in 1833 and devoted to primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Their life in mission centers on prayer, community life and m ...

) in the United States. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1998. The groups were home to a high school for girls from 1925 through 1974.

History

The 1880s and 90s saw nearly 100,000 Czechs leave the regions of

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The ...

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

and emigrate to the United States. Once in the United States the immigrants tended to establish Czech-only neighborhoods and towns that were almost self-sufficient, with Czech-language shops, banks, churches and schools. The Czechoslovakian School Sisters of Notre Dame came to the United States to sustain Czech immigrants by teaching the Czech language and culture. The order purchased Seven Oaks Farm, Father Edward J. Flanagan's original site for Boys Town. Afterwards, Sisters were regular staff at Boys Town.

Design

Influenced by the 1898

Trans-Mississippi Exposition The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition was a world's fair held in Omaha, Nebraska from June 1 to November 1 of 1898. Its goal was to showcase the development of the entire West, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Co ...

, Omaha architects Matthew Lahr and Carl Stangel designed the E-shaped convent and school in 1924. It was constructed in phases over the next twenty-six years, all complying with the original design. It was designed in the late Italian Renaissance Revival style.

School

Notre Dame Academy was sponsored and staffed by the Notre Dame Sisters from 1926 through its merger with Rummel High School to form the present Roncalli Catholic High School in 1974.

Present

In 1997 the Sisters of Notre Dame changed the usage of the property, re-opening it as "Seven Oaks of Florence". The facility provides low-income housing for seniors subsidized by the

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Ur ...

.(nd
History
. Seven Oaks of Florence. Retrieved 6/11/07.

References

{{authority control Christianity in Omaha, Nebraska National Register of Historic Places in Omaha, Nebraska Defunct schools in Omaha, Nebraska Educational institutions established in 1925 Defunct Catholic secondary schools in Nebraska Educational institutions disestablished in 1974 Italian Renaissance Revival architecture in the United States Czech-American history Czech-American culture in Omaha, Nebraska School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha 1925 establishments in Nebraska

History

Design

School

Present

See also

References