The 1880s and 90s saw nearly 100,000 Czechs leave the regions of
Bohemia,
Moravia,
Silesia and
Slovakia and emigrate to the United States. Once in the United States the immigrants tended to establish Czech-only neighborhoods and towns that were almost self-sufficient, with Czech-language shops, banks, churches and schools. The Czechoslovak School Sisters of Notre Dame came to the United States to sustain Czech immigrants by teaching the Czech language and culture. The order purchased Seven Oaks Farm,
Father Edward J. Flanagan's original site for
Boys Town. Afterwards, Sisters were regular staff at Boys Town.
Design Influenced by the 1898
Trans-Mississippi Exposition, Omaha architects
Matthew Lahr and
Carl Stangel designed the E-shaped convent and school in 1924. It was constructed in phases over the next twenty-six years, all complying with the original design. It was designed in the late
Italian Renaissance Revival style.
School Notre Dame Academy was sponsored and staffed by the Notre Dame Sisters from 1926 through its merger with Rummel High School to form the present
Roncalli Catholic High School in 1974. ==Present==