Most Precious Blood School

Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, 1529 Barthold Street; preschool through eighth grade; the Red Guardians; opened September 12, 1898, the oldest school in this wave

A Parish Imagined by a Dying Bishop: Most Precious Blood parish was envisioned by Bishop Joseph Dwenger, himself a Precious Blood priest in Ohio, before his death in 1893. His successor, Bishop Joseph Rademacher, invited the Society of the Precious Blood to plant it, and Father Frank Nigsch, appointed the first pastor in 1897, took a census that found one hundred fifty five Catholic families on the city's northwest side. The parish opened in 1897. Its school is a foundation of the following year, and this entry keeps the two years apart, as the record does.

September 12, 1898: The school's own handbook tells the opening plainly: Most Precious Blood School opened its doors on September 12, 1898, with one hundred sixty students in grades one through eight, in a building that held church and school together, and the Precious Blood Sisters came to teach. Money was short from the start; the diocesan newspaper's anniversary account records the financial struggles that attended the combined building. The sisters stayed a long time: the parish's published history, as this history's group entry records it, has the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood teaching at the school until 1982. Growth was the other constant. By 1928 the student body had grown to four hundred fifty, and a new school was needed; the diocesan account gives the climb as from two hundred fifty students to four hundred fifty.

The Building with the Bowling Alley: The new school cost two hundred thirty thousand dollars, and it was dedicated on December 8, 1929. To help pay the building off, a bowling alley was built in its basement, and the alley is still in use, kept by Larry Sarrazin, an alumnus and parishioner, with Wendy and Rich Luley, its scores still kept by hand on paper cards. The building at 1529 Barthold Street, next to the church at 1515, is the school's home still. Its first kindergarten class began in 1947 with seventy students, nearly half a century after the school's doors opened.

The Long Century: The school marked its one hundred twenty fifth anniversary in 2023, and the diocesan newspaper told its story at length for the occasion. Its teams play in the Catholic Youth Organization: in December 2016 Today's Catholic recorded the school's boys as Blue League tournament champions under coach Justin Allen, with the league's realignment about to move them up to the Gold League. Its cheerleaders combined with St. Jude's in the Central Catholic squads the diocesan newspaper described in February 2015. The school's mission, carried in the parish bulletin, states the whole of its purpose in one sentence: "Most Precious Blood School is a Catholic community dedicated to promoting education in Christian values, academic standards, and character development."

Today: The principal's chair has turned over twice in the recent record: the school's handbook for 2023 and 2024 names Stanley Liponoga IV; the parish bulletins of 2025 name Rachel Ottenweller; the bulletins of 2026 name Tabitha Ray. The teams have a new name in the parish's print: the bulletin of 2026 announces mascot shirts for "the PB Red Guardians" and cheers "GO RED GUARDIANS," and the Red Guardians are the school's own name for itself. The enrollment figures do not reconcile, and they are printed with their instruments: the school's handbook counts two hundred twenty seven students in the 2022 to 2023 school year, preschool through eighth grade; the federal private school survey counts two hundred nineteen; this history's group entry counts one hundred eighty six in 2025. The sources do not reconcile the three numbers, and neither does this entry.

Sources:

1. Most Precious Blood School, School Handbook 2023-24 (the school's own, via files.ecatholic.com), History: the school opened September 12, 1898 with 160 students in grades 1 to 8; grown to a 450 member student body by 1928 and a new school built; the first kindergarten program in 1947 with 70 students; enrollment for 2022-23 was 227 students, preschool through grade 8; the 125th anniversary celebrated in 2023; Stanley Liponoga IV named as principal.
2. Today's Catholic, September 19, 2023: the 125th anniversary account; Bishop Joseph Dwenger's vision of the parish and his death in 1893; Bishop Joseph Rademacher and the Society of the Precious Blood; Father Frank Nigsch, first pastor 1897, and his census of 155 Catholic families; the combined church and school building of 1898 and its financial struggles; the 1929 school at $230,000, enrollment grown from 250 to 450; the bowling alley built in the new school's basement to help pay it off, still in use, kept by Larry Sarrazin with Wendy and Rich Luley, with hand written scorecards.
3. Today's Catholic, December 6, 2016: the CYO Blue League boys' tournament championship, coach Justin Allen, and the realignment moving the school up to the Gold League; and February 4, 2015: the combined Most Precious Blood and St. Jude cheerleading squad in the Central Catholic cheerleading account.
4. Most Precious Blood parish bulletins, via DiscoverMass: August 31 and November 2025 (Rachel Ottenweller, Principal); August 2026 (Tabitha Ray, Principal; "PB Mascot Tshirts" for "the PB Red Guardians" and "GO RED GUARDIANS"; the school mission statement).
5. National Center for Education Statistics, as republished by Private School Review, Most Precious Blood School profile: 219 students.
6. This history's published group entry, The Catholic Grade Schools of Fort Wayne and Allen County: the present building dedicated December 8, 1929; the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood teaching until 1982; 186 students in 2025.