History

St. Mary of the Knobs Catholic Church was established in 1823 and is the oldest parish in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The first log cabin church was built on the Thomas Pierce farm in Mooresville, which is now known as Floyd Knobs, Indiana. 

In 1837 St. Mary’s opened its first school, a milestone that initiated a longstanding commitment to education in our area.  As the parish grew, more space was needed and a humble two story school house was built in 1898.

During the 1940s, to accommodate a prospering community, an 8 room school was built from concrete block and brick and then expanded to 16 rooms by 1963. And within these walls St. Mary of the Knobs nurtured generations of students, operating for decades as a public school. 

In 1997, due to the facilities limitation, the school, which is one of Indiana’s oldest, was forced to close its doors. In August of 2001 St. Mary of the Knobs Catholic Church reopened the doors as a deanery Catholic school, ushering in a new era of educating future generations. 

In 2017, a middle school was added, completing the preschool through grade 8 education it offers the community. 

The school is now the largest ministry of St. Mary of the Knobs Catholic Church. It is a gem in the small fringe-rural community of Floyds Knobs, Indiana.