LORETTO ACADEMY. Loretto Academy was founded by the Sisters of Lorettoqv in 1879 in San Elizario, Texas, the El Paso county seat at the time. Within the stone and adobeqv walls of this first schoolhouse of the El Paso area, children were taught practical information for daily life. In 1892 the school was moved to El Paso, and emphasis was adapted to a program to prepare young women for careers as housewives and mothers. The school was incorporated in 1923 as Loretto College and Academy. It opened that year with twenty boarders and 135 day pupils housed in new buildings on a twenty-acre campus some distance from downtown El Paso. In the 1990s Loretto Academy continued to accept girls from prekindergarten through twelfth grade and boys from prekindergarten through fifth grade. In 1993-94 the school had an enrollment of over 925 pupils, mainly from El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Over the years the academy has placed great emphasis on learning English well in order to facilitate assimilation into American society.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Catholic Archives of Texas, Files, Austin.
Okla A. McKee
