Erin Renk
1115 West Broadway Street in Winona, Minnesota would appear to be the home to Cotter Schools but the buildings around the road tell a different story. For over one hundred years, the bones of what is now Cotter was once the College of St. Teresa’s; a college to “give an education that would produce young women of the highest culture.” The college brought thousands of women to Winona from distinguished professors to proud alumni. It should not be forgotten because it remains an important part of the pieces that made Winona what it is today.
The history of STC (St. Teresa’s College) began when the Milwaukee School Sisters of St. Francis bought eleven acres on Wabasha Street in 1884. These eleven acres began the series of ventures by the sisters of the Catholic Church. The Sisters of St. Francis bought the land to build a girls boarding school but the institute closed due to constant financial struggle. In 1888, Archbishop Ireland of St. Paul bought the land and built St. John’s hospital. The hospital closed as a result of the lack of business in the Winona area. The Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester who already owned numerous Catholic schools in Rochester bought the building from the Archbishop. In 1894, Sisters Leo and Dominic of Rochester arrived in Winona with the combined wealth of $4.28. Classes were held that September with a total student body of 59 students. Originally, available lessons consisted of “piano, mandolin, guitar, violin, voice, elocution, business, art, Latin, and gymnastics”. Contrary to past pursuits, the all women’s seminary began to flourish and the second year it was open 86 more students enrolled. In 1907, Mary A. Molloy, the first female graduate of Cornell University came to the seminary to teach the sisters. Molloy later became the first dean of what was officially named, the College of St. Teresa’s in 1912. In the 1920s, a nursing and education program was introduced. With the stock market crash of 1929, the teacher’s paychecks were cut “by at least one third”. But its faculty pushed through and enrollment numbers continued to grow throughout the 1930s and 40s. In the wake of Vatican II in 1959, nuns left their jobs and the sexual revolution of the 70s brought enrollment rates to a steep decline. In the 1980s, St. Teresa’s finally became co-ed but it was too late and the college closed in 1989. In 1992, Cotter schools moved its location to St. Teresa’s and it has remained there for the past twenty-seven years.
An extremely important part of what was St. Teresa’s were the buildings that surrounded the campus. As enrollment grew, the eleven acres Sisters Leo and Dominic bought in 1894 grew to seventy acres. And by 1912 covered most of Winona’s west end. The college is known for its Italian, Romanesque architecture that all began with St. Mary’s Hall in 1894. As St. Teresa’s added more programs, more buildings were built to sustain the many students coming to Winona. In the 1920s, with the addition of the nursing program, Alverna Hall, Lourdes Hall, and St. Mary of the Angels Chapel were built; all three of these buildings still stand today. Alverna Hall was used as a convent for the nuns and was attached to the chapel. Since then, it has been renovated and is now owned by St. Mary’s University. Lourdes Hall was once the largest building on campus and contained dormitory space, a dining hall, and even a swimming pool. St. Mary of the Angels Chapel was built in the September of 1924 by architect C.H Johnson. The campus even had a planetarium inside the Roger Bacon building where all the “biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics” classes were held. There have been recent attempts by “faculty and administration” of surrounding school districts to revamp the planetarium. One of the most important buildings on campus, the tea house, was completed in 1920. The Tea House was a place for the students to eat, drink, and socialize in between classes. It is now home to the Alumnae Association of the College of St. Teresa. The buildings of St. Teresa’s stand visible as they did over a hundred years ago but the incredible people is what really gave this college its reputation of quality education.
Although the college closed in 1989, there remains a close-knit alumnus that continues to remain active in the community of Winona. This is reflected in the group’s hard work to preserve the tea house on campus. In 1994, the Tea House was gutted and replaced with “new electrical wiring, roof, sheetrock, heating, and air conditioning”. The building now serves as an office for the alumni association but can also be rented for special events. The organization is not just trying to gain money from rentals. Their goal was to preserve the history of their alma mater. They also stated their mission was, “to encourage, support and affirm the present generation of women and girl students in Winona. . .” and to provide “alternatives to established women’s studies programs.”
The value of service to the Winona community is why this former institution must be recognized. These students took part in charity work and volunteered during the World War II era. There was a campus court at St. Teresa’s called “May Queen’s Court” which evolved into a service organization in the early 1980s. One of these charitable acts, ‘soup line’ program, allowed students to eat just soup and bread every Thursday. For every student who only ate the bread and soup, a dollar was donated to different charity organizations. The alumni of St Teresa’s includes thousands of women and hundreds of men including prominent painters, radio hosts, writers, and legislatures. I had the opportunity to interview two of these amazing women, who are involved in the alumni and tea house. I talked to them about their experiences at the college, feelings about the closing of St. Teresa’s, and the Tea House.
Fran Edstrom graduated from the College of St. Teresa’s in 1967 and majored in English with a minor in Theater. In 1971, Fran and her husband, John, first published the “precursor to the Winona Post”.
Fran talked about where she had grown up, how she came to St. Teresa’s, and the rules of the campus. The first question I asked was, why did you decide to go to the College of St. Teresa’s? She answered that she had grown up in Massachusetts and thought she would go to college there. But her parents thought St. Teresa’s would be a good fit, as her mother had graduated from STC in 1940. When she first got to the college, I asked her, was there any aspects of the college that she didn’t enjoy? I heard of many strict rules imposed upon the students from not being able to “blow on a beverage to decrease its temperature” to a dress code forbidding “feathers, silks, and jewels.” Edstrom said that she was surprised to learn that “first-semester freshman were expected to be in at 6:30 PM, during the week, 10 on Friday nights, and 10:30 on Saturday nights”. She grew used to the routine and as a theater minor, got to stay out later because of rehearsals. Along with the girls being in bed by 10 PM, they were also expected to be studying until 9 P.M. She said, “the goal of our education was primarily to learn how to learn” so the women of St. Teresa’s would have “vibrant intellectual lives”. Along with the graduates being ready for the career of their choice; the women were also prepared to have “active spiritual lives” in which they could better “serve [their] communities, and act ethically and responsibly”. When asked her about her feelings of the college closed in 1989, she said that she was not only sad but also angry; she felt that the college had been “mismanaged in the late 70s and early 80s” ultimately leading to its demise.
Mrs. Edstrom had an exceptionally large role to play in preserving the tea house. In the second part of Fran’s interview, we talked about her part in saving the Tea House on campus and why the college should be remembered as an important part of the history of Winona. I asked her about her experience with the building and if it was an important part of the campus at the time. She described the Tea House as a “gathering place between classes” and “a cute little building, cozy and bustling”. I questioned her on how the alumnae association decided to remodel the place. As I learned, the alumni had no part in the remodeling, in fact, Fran Edstrom herself had the idea along with another alumna to fix up the place. When they first went approached the Alumnae Association, they turned them away leaving the Tea House to be demolished. Fran approached the founder of Fastenal and local philanthropist, Bob Kierlin for help. She said, “he agreed to lease it to us for $1 for 20 years”. With two major mail fundraisers and the generous giving of alumni, the Tea House was able to be renovated. Finally, I asked Fran why, in her opinion, the College of St. Teresa’s should be remembered as an important part of Winona’s history. She told me that, women who went to STC went on to become, “leaders in their communities, large and small, were elected to public office, received graduate degrees, taught generations of children and adults, worked in their medical and social services fields”. She also added that she benefited the most from a women’s college because “women are the leaders” and “they are not regulated to being the secretary of the organization, they are the presidents”. When speaking about why the college should remain visible she said this, “St. Teresa’s should be remembered as a vital part of building the reputation of Winona as a center of higher education in the midwest”. Fran Edstrom gave her time and talents to the community by starting up the Winona Post and going to St. Teresa’s was a part of her success.
The second woman I interviewed was Colleen Peplinski who is the executive director of the St. Teresa’s Alumni. Colleen graduated from STC in 1987 and majored in elementary education. She is an active parent in Winona Area Public Schools and was named “Woman of the Year” in 2009. As I was researching the Tea House, I saw Colleen was the executive director of the alumni association and her email was listed on the website. I contacted her and asked if she would be willing to answer a few questions; she replied that she was “delighted in my interest in St. Teresa’s” and agreed to help me. I asked if she would be willing to do the interview in person at the actual tea house, as I had never seen the inside of the building before. She graciously said yes and we decided on a time to meet.
Colleen Peplinski warmly greeted me as I walked in the door of the bright little building on the corner of 357 Gould Street. We sat down at one of the many tables in the room and began talking about the college. The first thing we talked about, which is one of the most interesting things to me, is the strict rules by which the nuns regulated the girls. Peplinski immediately ran to get something out of a closet in the back. She handed me the “The Teresan Book of Table Manners” which included orders such as, “never to order a waitress to bring anything. She will request what she wishes; there is a vast difference”. We laughed about dorm regulations, like how each girl had to have their bed six inches from the wall. Or how one could only have as many people in their dorm room, as there were chairs. While rules like these were enforced all the way up until the 1970s, Peplinski told me by the time she got to the college in 1883, the “reins had loosened”. We then moved on to the interview portion.
We talked about the alumni association and her involvement with the remodeling of the tea house. She answered that Fran Edstrom and a few other alums came up with the idea but Colleen was there “scraping paint” and “painting the exterior of the tea house”. She added that she loves the “good vibes” of the place and can’t believe that this is where she gets to work every day (the alumni offices are in the Tea House). I asked her why St. Teresa’s should be remembered as an important part of Winona’s history. She told me that the nuns taught the young women of STC that they have a voice and taught them how to use it. Colleen Peplinski told me her favorite memory of St. Teresa’s was, giving tours of the chapel as a student. She explained that the symbolism behind the stained glass rose in the Chapel of St. Mary of the angels. It represents all the lives that the College of St. Teresa’s touched and how they all formed to make a perfect circle; a sorority, a family.
Although same-sex colleges have begun to disappear; I believe that an important lesson can be taken away from St. Teresa’s. The importance of this place lies in the education of women. Not just educating women to be housewives but teaching them to start their own business, to become a teacher, a social worker, or a politician. St. Teresa’s taught women how to be leaders. It taught them to have a voice and then to use that voice. The college taught them to value education and themselves. I learned a lesson of graciousness and kindness from the graduates of St. Teresa’s I talked with. I was a stranger to both Fran and Colleen before I wrote this paper yet they agreed to help me. These women are so passionate about their alma mater because they believe they got the best education while they were there. They also agreed that the college remains both important to Winona’s past as well as relevant in its community. The beautiful architecture, rich history, and remarkable people made St. Teresa’s what it was. And St. Teresa’s helped to make Winona what it is today. So now, hopefully, when you drive past the buildings on 1115 West Broadway Street, you’ll have a greater appreciation for why they stand.
