Is St Mary’s Catholic School Reopening In Lawton?

It wasn't that long ago that St. Mary's in Lawton announced they would permanently close the private school at the tail end of the first round of the pandemic. Remember how much the world and everyday life around us changed at that time, it was understandable. Private schools all across this nation closed their doors in the face of uncertainty. But skip forward some six months, there sure is a flurry of activity surrounding it.

Over the last few months, there has been a reasonably steady flow of construction projects happening on the Blessed Sacrament block in Downtown Lawton. Most notably, the chopping of trees and building of fences. As this project now wraps around the property, it has a few wondering if they're planning on a return to education in the near future.

While I said I wouldn't dig into this very far when the topic was emailed to me, the history of St. Mary's is pretty interesting. An origin as old as Lawton itself, St. Mary's opened in 1907 when Lawton's plumbing was still outhouses in the alley and barrel-delivered water. Luckily, Lawton has updated the plumbing in most areas of the city that aren't around 38th and Lee.

The school was a struggle to get started, but eventually, nuns were recruited and the first class of 60 students was able to start their education. You should click the link above and read the history. I'm not catholic myself but it was still really interesting.

As the parish has continued construction throughout the pandemic, the question was raised a week or so ago, as crews continued their work around the school, is St. Mary's planned to eventually reopen?

The long and short of the matter is, we don't know.

I did reach out to Blessed Sacrament to ask the question on behalf of those asking me, but by the time I hit my deadline to publish, I wasn't able to get a call back from someone in the organization. Which is totally understandable being the crazy week it is with Thanksgiving and the kickoff to the holiday season...

If I do get that call back though, I'll be sure to give an update.