Central Catholic Marianist High School


Central Catholic High School, is a Catholic, all-male, non-boarding college preparatory school located in the River North District of Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio.

History

The school began as St. Mary's Institute on March 25, 1852 in rented rooms above a blacksmith's shop on Military Plaza. The original faculty consisted of Brother Anthony Edel from Ohio, three Marianist Brothers from Bordeaux, France, and Timothy O'Neil, a layman from San Antonio.
The school moved to a new 2-story building at 112 College Street March 1, 1853. In 1891, the school was renamed St. Mary's College, reflecting its expansion to include boarders and primary and middle school grades. In 1923, the school added boarding students from St. Louis College and was renamed St. Mary's Academy. The site is now a hotel entryway, recognized by Texas Historical Marker #3819 as the location of Old St. Mary's College, or "The Old Academy."
In 1932, the school relocated to a new 3-story brick building on at 1403 N. St. Mary's Street and was renamed once more to Central Catholic High School. The third floor was not occupied until 1953. Grade school classes were dropped in 1955. A Dr Pepper bottling plant occupied the northeast corner of the site until 1956. On December 6, 1982, the school was incorporated in the State of Texas as Central Catholic Marianist High School. Upon the assumption by Rev. Joseph Tarrillion, SM, of the presidency, the school's name was changed back to Central Catholic High School. The school now occupies over after purchase of surrounding properties.
Central Catholic is one of the oldest high schools in San Antonio, and it counts many prominent business and political leaders among its alumni. It was the first all-boys school in San Antonio and remains one of the largest all-male schools in Texas. Texas Historical Marker #788 on the school's front lawn describes the school's history and denotes it as a Texas landmark.

Mascot

The Central Catholic mascot is the Buttons which are hard, round protrusions found anterior to the rattles of the rattle snake. The mascot pays tribute to St. Mary's University, of which the high school was originally a part of, whose mascot is the Rattler.

Athletics

Central competes in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. For the 2008-2010 alignment, Central is in Division I District 2 for Winter Soccer and 11 Man Football and 6A District 2 in Baseball, Swimming, Track and Field, Golf, Tennis, and Basketball. Central competes in Cross Country in the TAPPS 6A division.

Notable alumni