St. Patrick School began in 1883 when Father John Hawe directed the building of a $5,000 four-story brick school/convent. Father Hawe invited the Presentation Sisters of Dubuque to serve as the teachers. The first Superior was Rev. Mother Presentation and she, with two assistants, Sister Mary Alcocoque and Sister Mary Stanislaus, served the school for five years.
The school building was outgrown and enlarged to twice its original size in 1893. Until 1939, St. Patrick School only had ten grades due to crowded conditions. When Father Ernest McDonald took over in 1936, he began plans for a building to include a four-year high school. In 1956, additional classrooms became necessary and the parish hall and kitchen were remodeled into three classrooms and a kitchenette, plus the church basement installed a kitchen for the school lunch program. A new elementary building opened in 1961 and housed grade one through six. Classrooms for grades seven through twelve remained in the high school building.
Under the leadership of the Home School Association, lay supervision was organized in the school in September 1959. Both men and women of the parish, approximately 130 volunteers, supervised in the cafeteria, playground, and classroom remedial reading. In the 1960’s, a central library was created and the Ladies of the Sanctuary Guild donated $1,700 toward the purchase of library materials. The first lay board of education began its responsibilities in 1967.
St. Patrick High School graduated its last class in 1970 and dropped grades ten, eleven, and twelve. The following year (1971), grades seven, eight, and nine were discontinued. St. Patrick School added kindergarten in 1974. By 1987, the kindergarten students were attending all day, every day. The church hall and lunchroom were remodeled in 1978. In 1998, Parents-in-Action began raising money to replace playground equipment at both sites, which was completed in 2000. In the fall of 1997, St. Patrick School began studying the idea of a Middle School to include grades six, seven, and eight. Seventh grade was added in 1999 and eighth grade in 2000. During the 2003 – 2004 school year, a study was done concerning the viability of the seventh and eighth grades. It was decided to focus on the K-6th grade program, dropping the seventh grade in 2004 – 2005 and the eighth grade in 2005 – 2006.
St. Patrick School currently offers a quality Catholic education for Jr. Kindergarten through sixth grade and a 3 year old, Clover Patch, program.