History
Born in 1873 of the educational and spiritual needs of the predominantly Irish immigrants of Pittsburgh’s East End, Sacred Heart Elementary School has been dedicated to developing moral and academic excellence for more than 125 years.

The first Sacred Heart Church, situated on what is now Centre Avenue, originally served as both church and school. The school opened in 1873 under the direction of the first parish pastor, Reverend Bernard Ferris, who hired Misses Barry and White as the first teachers. They moved into a four-room brick building adjacent to the church in 1874. The first-year enrollment of 204 students grew rapidly and, subsequently, at Father Ferris’s request, in December, 1874, seven Sisters of Charity came from Altoona, Pennsylvania, to staff the school. The sisters and lay teachers have provided guidance and tutelage to our students ever since.

Responding to continued parish growth, a three-story school building was completed in 1884, and Sacred Heart High School was established in one room of that building in 1913. A new eight-room school building on Sheridan Avenue was completed in 1923. The following year, construction of a new church on Shady and Walnut streets was begun, and, in 1947, the current Sacred Heart Elementary School, on Walnut and Emerson streets, was dedicated. Sacred Heart High School moved to the new Alder Street location in 1950, where it served the East End until 1989.