West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys (West Boys, West Catholic, Burrs) was founded in 1916. A school building was later constructed at 49th Street between Chestnut and Market Streets in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The school closed its doors in 1989 when the co-educational

West Philadelphia Catholic High School West Catholic Preparatory High School is a co-educational Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 45th and Chestnut Streets, the University City neighborhood of West Philadelphia. ...

opened in the former West Philadelphia Catholic Girls High School building at 45th and Chestnut Street.

History

The School began in 1916 with students at both Transfiguration Parish School and later at St. Gregory's Parish School. Designed by the firm Hoffman-Henon Co., the school was built on Chestnut St. around 1921. It consisted of two connected buildings. The original staff were the Marianist Brothers. They were replaced in 1926 by the

Brothers of the Christian Schools french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes , image = Signum Fidei.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = , abbreviation = FSC , nickname = Lasallians , named_after = , formation ...

, who administered the school until its closing by the

Archdiocese of Philadelphia The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well a ...

in 1989. An additional High School was built for the education of the area’s young women in 1927. The teams nickname was the 'Burrs". For the first half of the 20th century, city title games, which pitted the champions of the Public and Catholic Leagues, often filled

Franklin Field Franklin Field is a sports stadium in Philadelphia, United States, at the eastern edge of the University of Pennsylvania's campus. It is the home stadium for the Penn Relays, and the University of Pennsylvania's stadium for football, track and fi ...

, the longtime home of Philadelphia's City Title high school football championship game. The game was held at the stadium in 1938, 1940, 1941, and from 1943 through 1972, before it moved to

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for footb ...

. On

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden a ...

, 1941, 40,000 fans watched

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

tie West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys, 0–0. The 1946 game, played before 60,000, ended in a riot when

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

fans stormed the field in the final minute of the school's 33–26 victory over West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys, prompting West Catholic fans to do the same. In 1945, 54,000 fans saw

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys, 18–13. In 1984, West Catholic High School for Boys was one of sixty recognized by the Council of American Private Education as an exemplary high school."Timeline", West Catholic Preparatory High School
/ref> The school colors were blue and white and its motto was ''Pro Deo et Patria'' (For God and Country). The West Catholic Alumni Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, remains the official alumni association for West Catholic Boys as well as for the male graduates of West Philadelphia Catholic High School. The Association's website is www.westcatholicalumni.org.

References

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1916 Educational institutions disestablished in 1989 Defunct Catholic secondary schools in Pennsylvania Defunct schools in Pennsylvania 1916 establishments in Pennsylvania West Philadelphia Marianist schools Lasallian schools in the United States

History

See also

References