page_title: Central Catholic High School (Portland, Oregon)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Central Catholic High School (Portland, Oregon) / History
caption_attribution_description: Central Catholic High School, Portland, Oregon
context_page_description: Central Catholic High School is a college prep school located in Portland, Oregon, United States. Central Catholic is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, and is the only archdiocesan high school in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland.
context_section_description: Central Catholic was founded in 1939 by Archbishop Edward Howard as a diocesan high school for boys. In 1930, St. Mary's Cemetery was closed and the interments were relocated, mostly to Mount Calvary, and Central Catholic High School was built on the site of the old cemetery. Although the Great Depression made fund-raising difficult, the Knights of Columbus staged fund-raising affairs and a generous bequest made it possible to open the first unit of the school in 1939. It was dedicated on May 9, 1939, and opened with about 125 freshman and sophomore students. The first principal was Father Francis Schaefers.
  Initially the school operated on a pay-as-you-go basis, meeting its expenses with its tuition, which was $50 a year. Overhead was low because many classes were taught by the diocesan priests, who did not take salaries, and by sisters from different congregations, who were paid $50 a month.
  While teaching, many of the priests continued their education at universities such as the University of Notre Dame, the University of Oregon, Catholic University, Dominican College of San Rafael, and the University of Chicago.
  Central Catholic became a co-ed high school in the 1980s. It accepted the first co-ed students as freshmen and sophomores for the 1980–81 school year. The first co-ed class graduated in 1983.
  As part of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company received between $2 million and $5 million in federally backed small business loan from Customers Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The company stated it would allow them to retain 143 jobs.
caption: Central Catholic entrance, 1991
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