St. Jude Catholic School

Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, 2110 Pemberton Drive; preschool through eighth grade; the Eagles; dedicated March 3, 1929 and opened the next morning to one hundred five children, weeks before the parish itself was formally established

Five Acres in Sharon Terrace: The ground came before the parish. Catholic families of the Lakeside and Kensington additions began asking for a parish of their own in the middle 1920s, and on May 7, 1926 the diocese bought five acres from Henry F. F. Kruse and the Randall estate, the square bounded by State Boulevard, Randallia Drive, Forest Avenue and Pemberton Drive, in the addition called Sharon Terrace. The parish's own pictorial history tells the purchase, and the parish's twenty fifth anniversary book of 1954 tells the building: work began in May 1928 on a school and chapel that cost about one hundred twenty five thousand dollars. One directory garble deserves a sentence only to be refused: an aggregator makes this "Sharon Terrace School, established in 1929." Sharon Terrace is the addition the school stands in, not its name; the school was St. Jude's from its first morning.

March 1929: Bishop John Francis Noll dedicated the building and its chapel on March 3, 1929, and the doors opened the next day, March 4, to one hundred five children in grades one through four. The Sisters of Providence taught them, coming out each day from St. Augustine Academy and carried back and forth by volunteers: Sister Marie Louise took grades three and four, Sister Dolores Marie grade two, and Sister Mary Grace grade one. The parish the school belonged to did not formally exist yet; it was established on April 12, 1929, with the Reverend John A. Dapp as first pastor, and the first Mass in the chapel followed on April 21. Sister Catherine Mary arrived as superior in September, and that September the school stood complete at eight grades and two hundred ninety three pupils.

Growth, and the Sisters' Succession: By 1935 the chapel was crowding at three hundred forty five children. In October 1953 Bishop Noll approved a convent, a four room addition and a gymnasium, in a fall when the school held six hundred sixteen children and twelve teachers. When the present church opened late in 1966, the old church became classrooms. The teaching succession turned in 1973, when the Sisters of Notre Dame arrived to succeed the Providence sisters; they served forty nine years, and the diocesan newspaper of July 12, 2022 recorded their farewell of June 26, 2022. Sister Charleen Hug was the first Notre Dame principal, Sister Richarde Kaufman held the post from 1986, and Sister Kathleen Marie Knueven is the principal named in the school's application for the national Blue Ribbon award for 2005 and 2006, filed with the U.S. Department of Education under the school's official name, Saint Jude Catholic School, state code A160, with five hundred ninety six students and a total school population of six hundred six.

Today: The teams are the Eagles; the parish bulletin of February 8, 2026 carries the school column under the heading "Keeping Up with the Eagles," and the same bulletin's staff directory names Mike Obergfell as the school's principal, at 2110 Pemberton Drive, phone 260-484-4611. The counts stand with their instruments: this history's group entry counts four hundred sixty four students, and the federal private school survey, as republished by Private School Review on a verified school update, counts the same four hundred sixty four in preschool through eighth grade; a republication of the federal survey counts five hundred students in all, four hundred fifty two of them beyond prekindergarten. The agreement of the two four hundred sixty fours is printed as it stands, and the five hundred beside it, labelled.

Sources:

1. St. Jude Parish, its pictorial history (stjudefw.org) and Twenty-fifth Anniversary, St. Jude Parish, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1954, as catalogued by LDS Genealogy: the interest of 1925 to 1927 in Lakeside and Kensington; the five acres bought May 7, 1926 from Henry F. F. Kruse and the Randall estate, bounded by State Boulevard, Randallia Drive, Forest Avenue and Pemberton Drive, in Sharon Terrace; the building from May 1928 at about $125,000; dedicated March 3, 1929 by Bishop Noll; opened March 4, 1929 to 105 children, grades 1 through 4; the Sisters of Providence from St. Augustine Academy, conveyed by volunteers, Sister Marie Louise in grades 3 and 4, Sister Dolores Marie in grade 2, Sister Mary Grace in grade 1; the parish formally established April 12, 1929, the Reverend John A. Dapp first pastor; the first chapel Mass April 21, 1929; Sister Catherine Mary superior from September; eight grades and 293 pupils in September 1929; 345 children in the chapel crowding account of 1935; October 1953, Bishop Noll's approval of a convent, a four room addition and a gymnasium, fall 1953 enrollment 616 with 12 teachers.
2. This history's published group entry, The Catholic Grade Schools of Fort Wayne and Allen County: the old church made classrooms after the current church opened late 1966; 464 students; the Allen County Genealogical Society's St. Jude page (acgsi.org) carries the same purchase and dedication dates.
3. Today's Catholic, July 12, 2022: the Sisters of Notre Dame arrived 1973, succeeding the Sisters of Providence, served 49 years, farewell June 26, 2022; Sister Charleen Hug the first Notre Dame principal; Sister Richarde Kaufman principal from 1986; Sister Kathleen Marie Knueven returned as principal in 1998.
4. U.S. Department of Education, National Blue Ribbon Schools application file, 2005-2006: the school's official name, Saint Jude Catholic School; state code A160; 596 students, 606 total; diocesan superintendent Mrs. Michelle Hittie; Principal Sister Kathleen Marie Knueven.
5. St. Jude parish bulletin, February 8, 2026 (DiscoverMass): the school column "Keeping Up with the Eagles"; the staff directory naming Principal Mike Obergfell, the school office at 2110 Pemberton Drive, phone 260-484-4611.
6. National Center for Education Statistics, as republished by Private School Review (verified school update): 464 students, preschool through grade 8; the same survey as republished by univstats: 500 students in total, 452 of them excluding prekindergarten.