100 Mansfield Avenue

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Original Name: Mount St. Mary Academy
Built: circa 1885
Current Name: Sisters of Mercy

Built for the Roman Catholic order of the Sisters of Mercy, Mount St. Mary's once housed as many as 100 women.1 Within the building, in addition to the sisters' quarters, were the novitiate, chapel, library, and the infirmary.2 The Burlington chapter of the Sisters of Mercy was formed in 1874 at the request of Bishop Louis deGoesbriand, who needed staff for his schools, and originally resided at a convent on St. Paul Street .3 Mother Stanislaus, who led the Sisters, was reportedly able to purchase the Mansfield Avenue property, then part of the Henry Dodge estate, through a series of real-estate investments.4 In 1886 the Academy opened, and the sisters who had grown significantly in their number (along with the Catholic population in general), all relocated up here by 1888.5

In 1925 St. Mary's was expanded and Trinity College, which was established that same year, held its first classes in the new addition.6

The academy served as a Catholic high school and college preparatory school for girls 81 years. It closed in 1967 due to shifting social currents in education and the growth of large district schools.7 In 1995 Mount St. Mary's Convent still served as the home of the control of the Sisters of Mercy, who comprised much of the city's parochial teaching staff.8 [Interestingly, the 2004 the Fletcher Allen Health Care (formerly Mary Fletcher Hospital) website lists St. Mary's on their list of hotels and inns in the Burlington area – albeit for "females only." 9]

Trinity College closed in 2002, and much of its core campus and buildings were acquired by the University of Vermont. (The Sisters of Mercy retain this building and additional property on Mansfield Avenue.)

Compiled by Liisa Reimann, Fall 2004

1. Blow, David, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, VII (Chittenden County Historical Society, 1997), 65.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, Burlington Historic Sites & Structures Surveys (1978 & 1983).
7. Blow, 66.
8. Ibid.
9. Lodging, Patients & Visitors, Fletcher Allen Health Care, http://www.fahc.org/Patients_and_Visitors/Visitors_Guide/hotels.html, 12 /5/04