Tyler School on Point Street

Built In

1890

History

Another notable episode in the development of Catholic elementary education occurred with the expansion of the Cathedral Parish's school, founded by Bishop Tyler in 1845. This school had been housed in the church basement during its early years, and then partly in the Mercy convent and partly in a school building on Lime Street. During the 1860s an additional facility was constructed on South Street to serve the needs of boys in the primary grades who resided at a distance from the Lime Street building. In 1890, under the guidance of Matthew Harkins, bishop of the Diocese of Providence from 1887 to 1921, and rector William Stang (later the first bishop of Fall River), the diffuse educational complex was brought under one roof with the opening of Tyler School on Point Street in South Providence. This institution, under the continuing control of the Sisters of Mercy, introduced into its upper grades what educational historian Charles Carroll has termed "two novelties in elementary education in Providence-a manual training department for boys and a domestic science department for girls." Source – Rhode Island History, Volume 53, Number 3 The school was demolished in 1958 to make way for I-95