Roman Catholic High School

The Roman Catholic High School of Philadelphia is a four-year private, Catholic high school for boys in Philadelphia. Thomas E. Cahill founded it in 1890 as the nation's first free Catholic high school. The school is located at the intersection of Broad and Vine streets in Center City Philadelphia, and is managed by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Roman Catholic High School was founded with funding provided by the estate of Thomas E. Cahill, a 19th-century Philadelphia merchant. Cahill had envisioned the need to create a school that offered a free Catholic education for boys past their grammar school years. Cahill died before seeing that vision come to life. However, those wishes were followed and guided by a written will and his wife, Sophia Cahill. Roman Catholic opened its doors in 1890 and offered free education to boys. Due to increased staff and facilities costs, free admission to the school ended in the 1960s.

Thomas E. Cahill, born May 27, 1828, was the son of Thomas Cahill, a native of County Louth in Ireland, colloquially known as 'the Wee County', who came to America in 1817, and of Maria Elliott, daughter of one of the oldest colonial families of Delaware. His father was a railroad contractor who suffered heavy reverses in his business. His mother died at the age of 36. Thomas left school to do his share in supporting a large family. At 17, he opened a small store in Philadelphia, located between Pine and Spruce Streets on 26th at a wharf on the Schuylkill River.

Successful from the start, he embarked in the wood, coal, and ice business with the proceeds of his first venture. He later organized the Cold Spring Ice and Coal Company. In 1854, he became the first president. In 1869, he effected a consolidation of the large ice firms of the city, incorporating under the name of the famous brand Knickerbocker Ice Company.

Roman Catholic High School was dedicated on September 6, 1890, in a ceremony conducted by Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia. His dedication speech compared education in public schools, lacking the Christian recognition of the soul and the importance of teaching that subject at this new catholic high school in the education of young men. A class numbering 105 boys was selected for entrance into the new high school. Later, only 26 students survived economic hardships and became members of the first graduating class in 1894. Compared with the number who began as first-year students, the percentage of graduates was slightly less than 25%. In 1928, one-half of those who started received diplomas. Over the 95 years since its opening, 16,228 students have graduated from Roman Catholic High.

In 1985, the Archdiocese slated the school for closing due to lower enrollment. However, the school's alumni association, with the blessing of Philadelphia's John Cardinal Krol, embarked on a campaign to save the school. Roman's Alumni Association, which had existed for over 70 years, came together to raise funds and increase enrollment. The rector of the school even applied to have the building itself designated a historic landmark, which was approved. The historic landmark designation means the building at the corner of Broad and Vine Streets can never legally be torn down. Also, its exterior must always stay the same, though it does not have to remain a school.

Before 1986, students who attended Roman were from "feeder parishes"; Roman served as the school for the boys from the Center City, Chinatown, East Falls, Fairmount, Manayunk, North Philadelphia, and Roxborough regions of Philadelphia.

Roman enrolls boys from almost every Philadelphia neighborhood, including The Near and Far Northeast, West Philadelphia, Fishtown, Port Richmond, Mayfair, South Philly, Fox Chase, Roxborough, South Jersey, and outlying suburbs.