St. Margaret’s School for Girls opened in 1892 in downtown Boise at 1st and Idaho Streets. The school housed local girls from secondary school to high school, but also served as a day school for nursery and kindergarten aged boys and girls. In the 1920s, the school also offered college degrees to its students.
St. Margaret’s curriculum focused on home economics but also included teaching. Graduates went on to teach all over the country and internationally. As part of the Idaho Episcopal Church, the faith-based school had at least one hour of bible every Sunday and daily morning service. St. Margaret’s functioned for 30 years, but lower enrollments, increased availability of public schools, and hard economic times of the 1930s brought it to an end.
Recognizing the changing times and the lack of higher education opportunities in the Treasure Valley, Bishop Middleton Barnwell advocated to close the girls’ school and instead establish a new co-educational junior college. Boise Junior College officially opened on September 6, 1932. Taking over the St. Margaret’s School for Girls campus, the building was renamed St. Margaret’s Hall.
BJC quickly outgrew the building and relocated to its current site in 1940. Though the buildings that made up St. Margaret’s School for Girls were demolished in 1959, the original cornerstones are currently preserved in front of the Riverfront Hall.
Sources:
Episcopal Diocese of Idaho Records
Written by Annika Severts, Spring 2018 intern