In 1756, a small
Roman Catholic boys' school was opened in
Frederick, Maryland, which provided a space for class and mass to be held. The population of Frederick was expanding, and in 1763 the first Roman Catholic Church (under the
Archdiocese of Baltimore) St. John's Frederick-Town Church, was constructed by Father John Williams, the first priest and pastor in Frederick. This new structure would house classes for 66 years. In 1822, a
Jesuit priest,
Father John McElroy, (1782–1877), was appointed to the pastorate at "St. John's Frederick-Town Church" in Frederick. His first major action was to work with the religious order
Sisters of Charity in nearby
Emmitsburg, Maryland to help five sisters opening the "St. John's Female Benevolent and Frederick Free School" in Frederick, in January 1824. Occasionally known thereafter as "St. John's College", the school was an academic rival to
Georgetown College, founded earlier in (1829) near
Washington, D.C. by the first American Bishop
John Carroll, the
Archbishop of Baltimore. After several years of running St. John's in Frederick, Fr. McElroy was transferred to Boston in 1847; there he would use the skills he acquired in Frederick to establish the nationally known
Boston College, and its preparatory institution,
Boston College High School along with the Church of the Immaculate Conception, all "
Jesuit" institutions. The
Jesuits left Frederick in 1903, and transferred control of the St. John's Literary Institution and the parish of
St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church to
diocesan priests from
Baltimore, Maryland. St. John's then began allowing girls to enroll for classes in 1925. With attendance expanding, the original school structure built on Second Street by founder
Father John McElroy in 1828 was demolished and a new building was erected in its place in the eastern sections of downtown Frederick. The
School Sisters of Notre Dame withdrew from staffing and leading St John's in 1972, and under the pressure and possibility of closure, a group of parents, alumni, faculty and parishioners pooled their energies and resources to recharter St. John's as the first independent
Roman Catholic School in Maryland, with a Board of Trustees. With its holdings now encompassing the original St. Thomas More buildings, and with the construction of more classrooms and sports fields, Saint John's Catholic Prep moved from Prospect Hall to the Buckeystown campus in January 2013. Classes there officially began January 14, 2013, with the school ready to continue its 184-year-old tradition of academic excellence in western Maryland. ==Academics==