St. Pauls Mission

Location: Hays

Est. in 1886 by the Jesuit Fathers under the authority of Fr. Frederick Ebbschweiler S.J. on Sept. 14, 1887 the Ursuline Sisters opened a boarding school for the Native Americans of Ft. Belknap. The year 1936 saw the Franciscan Sisters assume the duties of Ursulines. The Jesuit volunteer corps have been sending their members to St. Paul’s since 1969. The Dominican Sisters arrived in the fall of 1973, on Dec. 5, 1973. A fire razed the school building. The last high school class graduated in 1974. Since then an elementary school has been staffed and maintained through the combined efforts of these men and women. Sister Clare Hartman S.E. is the resident historian of this area, having arrived in Aug. 1939. Sister M. Giswalda Kramer O.S.F. (1903-1988)—after serving 46 years at the mission is in death. A guardian angel of St. Paul’s School.