In February, School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) worked with the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership (SWMHP) to complete a purchase sale agreement for the Our Lady of Good Counsel campus in Mankato, Minnesota. The sale will include the entire property located on the Hill in Mankato, except for the SSND cemetery and Loyola Catholic School. SWMHP is exploring various ideas for the property. Initial concepts include housing and assisted developments on the campus, alongside possible arts, educational programs and nonprofit efforts. The Good Counsel chapel will remain, with public access to the historic and art-filled space to be permitted.

SSND indeed has a rich and impactful legacy in Mankato, dating back more than 200 years. Sisters continue to live and actively serve throughout the Mankato area and retired SSND reside in service, prayer and presence at the Benedictine Living Community in nearby Shakopee.

The following timeline shares a snapshot of the property’s history and importance to SSND, Good Counsel Academy students and the larger Mankato community.

September 1865 – Three School Sisters of Notre Dame and a candidate arrive in Mankato, Minnesota from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While there is no official province in Mankato, and won’t be for some time, the group serves as an initial SSND presence in the area and helps respond to educational needs of the community.

April 1910 – The purchase agreement of the land for Our Lady of Good Counsel is finalized.

1911 – Ground is broken on the first two structures to be built on the property.

1912 – Isidore Hall is completed, housing sisters’ rooms, a chapel, office and classroom spaces and dormitories for boarders. Gardens and outbuildings for machinery and farm animals are also developed.

1921 – A three-story house for aspirants is constructed and dubbed the Teresianum (more recently known as Scheid Hall). The home is ready to be occupied in summer 1922.

1924 – 1926 – A hope of the first provincial leader, Mother Isidore Schumacher, is realized with the construction and completion of a dedicated chapel building at Our Lady of Good Counsel. Along with its primary purpose of prayer and reflection within the sanctuary, the larger building also included offices, infirmary rooms and even a gym, theatre and meeting space on a lower level.

1930 – Another groundbreaking as expansions from the main building are made to accommodate continued growth. This would be Theresa Hall.

1937 – Construction is completed on a sanitarium in response to a growing need to care for tuberculosis patients. Initially called Fourier Hall, the building would later be known as Marian Hall, and would also serve to care for aging or ill sisters.

1966 – A new academy and residential building greets students for the 1965-1966 school year in response to continued increases in enrollment.

1967 – The Good Counsel Reading Center (now known as Good Counsel Learning Center) opens as a resource for children, teens and adults in need of educational support and tutoring.

1975 – A venerable organ from Boston makes its new home in the Good Counsel Chapel, with the help of a legacy gift to cover the cost of transportation and installation.

1980 – After some 68 years of educating girls, Good Counsel Academy closes its doors. The building will reopen for the 1981-1982 school year as Loyola Catholic School, a co-ed high school, which remains to this day.

1990s – The Good Counsel Chapel is renovated and continues in its essential role as a center of group and individual prayer, public worship and for concerts featuring the Johnson and Son Organ Opus 99.

1996 – The Center of Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministry, now known as the Living Earth Center, is founded. With its much-loved community gardens, the center is rooted in a call to care for all of creation and its many gifts.

2002-2003 – Theresa Hall and Isidore Hall are renovated and Notre Dame Health Care building is constructed.

2021 – School Sisters of Notre Dame Provincial Council shares the news that SSND would be divesting their property at Our Lady of Good Counsel and plans are made for sisters to move.

2022 – All remaining sisters make their move from the Our Lady of Good Counsel property to Shakopee.

2023 – Good Counsel Learning Center moves to a new location in downtown Mankato, but continues its work of educating K-12 students, as well as adult learners.

2025 – SSND and Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership announce a purchase agreement for the sale of the Our Lady of Good Counsel campus. Updates will be shared when available.

“Our mission, values, and vision for the future of the Mankato community and beyond are closely aligned, and we look forward to seeing how our sacred space on the Hill will be developed to provide for the needs of many in the years to come,” said Sister Debra M. Sciano, Provincial Leader. “It is reassuring to know that our SSND legacy will be remembered and our commitment to the care of all creation will be honored.”