Salpointe Catholic High School

Salpointe Catholic High School is a co-ed Catholic high school in Tucson, Arizona. Although located in the Diocese of Tucson, it is administered by the Carmelite Order. History Salpointe Catholic High School is named for Arizona's first Bishop, Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, who worked as a missionary in the Arizona Territory from 1866 to 1885. In the late 1940s, Tucson's parochial grammar schools had nine grades. The desire to build a Catholic high school for these graduates prompted the diocese to purchase the Florence Addition. Salpointe Catholic High School began in 1950 as a modest school consisting of what is now the Farr Patio and cafeteria. On the first day of school, Salpointe opened to 100 students. At that time, Tucson High School and Amphitheater High School were the only other high schools in Tucson. Salpointe had nine classrooms, a library and administrative offices. The first principal was Rev. Victor Stoner. He was followed by Rev. Edward Carscallen and Rev. George Dyke. In summer 1952, Msgr. Francis Green, pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul Parish, visited the Chancery Office in Chicago, where he met Rev. Romaeus O'Brien, O. Carm. He mentioned that Bishop Daniel Gercke of Tucson was thinking about asking a religious order to operate Salpointe. In spring 1953, Green made a formal request that the Carmelites come to Tucson. Rev. Joseph Bonaventure Gilmore, O. Carm., Provincial Counselor, and Rev. Kenneth Moore, O. Carm., Assistant Provincial, met with Green, Msgr. Don Hughes, president of the Salpointe School Board, and other pastors. Gilmore became the first Carmelite principal in summer 1953. In August, he wrote to Rev. Raphael Kieffer, O. Carm., Carmelite Provincial, asking that the two promised Carmelites arrive as soon as possible.