J. W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School

John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls' High School was an all-girls Roman Catholic high school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It is the country's first all-girls diocesan Catholic high school. History A Roman Catholic High School for Boys had been established in 1890 at Broad and Vine streets through the philanthropy of Thomas E. Cahill, a Philadelphia merchant-entrepreneur. This school was a positive development for education in the city, but unfortunately it was only benefiting the boys at the time. Girls had yet to have a Catholic School available. “There is an urgent need for the establishment in the City of Philadelphia of a Catholic High School for girls,” stated Father John W. Shanahan as found in the First Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for the year ending June 30, 1895. In 1901, Father Philip R. McDevitt, who succeeded Father Shanahan, reported that High School Centres had been organized. There were five such Centres throughout the city. The religious community that served the parish school in which the Centres were located also staffed the High School Centre. There was, however, still the dream of a Catholic girls’ high school. Along with the dream, there was a prayer for a “Catholic Philanthropist:” to meet the necessity and to endow such a school. The dream was realized in 1908, the centennial year of the diocese, when a devout Catholic lay woman, Mary E. H. McMichan, came forward to offer a gift of sufficient funds toward the establishment of such a school. The building's façade marks 1911 as the construction year. Since then, thousands of young women have attended.