Can One Man Save a Crumbling Catholic Icon?
Monroe's St. Mary Academy building has been vacant for decades, but a local businessman has plans for apartments, retail, and restaurants
Monroe businessman and philanthropist Keith Masserant signed a purchase agreement for the St. Mary’s Academy building on West Elm Street two years ago. He has until May of 2026 to complete fundraising and planning.
Since the decline of the convent’s academic activities and its membership, there has been talk of demolishing the 260,000-square-foot building. If it weren’t for Mr. Masserant, it’s likely wrecking balls would already have swung.
Keith Masserant was born and raised in Newport. He and his family are lifelong members of St. Charles Catholic Church. Given Monroe’s very Catholic heritage, he’s as Monroe as they come. Plus, he’s been successful in the industrial construction and engineering industry.
For those who don’t know, the convent complex in Monroe was and is the largest building in town. Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was founded in 1845 with humble beginnings in a log cabin. Today, it is a partially deserted property, with several buildings joined together.
The motherhouse, which houses IHM, is still functioning, while the old St. Mary’s Academy portion is lifeless. The vacant building is connected to IHM, which currently has 175 vowed sisters, about half of whom are aging and need supportive care. With Catholicism in decline locally, IHM can’t sustain itself.
Masserant is IHM’s only hope.
It all started on Nov. 10, 1845. After sisters Teresa Renauld, Teresa Maxis, and Ann Charlotte Schaff committed themselves to a new life as the first members of a teaching sisterhood in Monroe. By 1854, there were 12 members. A steadiness came in 1870 when they had reached 106 members.
In 1866, construction for the first brick building began. By 1900, a complex of structures served the sisters and by 1905 the first building for St. Mary’s College and Academy was dedicated. In 1927, St. Mary’s college moved to Detroit upon request from the bishop and was renamed Marygrove College.
On June 3, 1929, three boarding students from Detroit and Toledo found a small fire in the west wing in what was named “the paper room.” The fire spread to an elevator shaft, which sent the flames to the upper stories, engulfing the building. Everyone evacuated safely. But all that remained was the front wall. The cause of the fire is unknown, but some say it was a misplaced cigarette.
By 1932, the sisters erected an even larger St. Mary’s Academy in the middle of the Great Depression. The Catholicism of Monroe was at its apex. Records show that IHM’s convent was 300 acres along with an 1,100-acre farm. St. Mary’s Academy was a thriving boarding school for young girls. In 1944, Monroe Catholic Central opened as an all boy’s school on the property.
Obviously, much was happening in our country during this era. The Great Depression, WWII, and then an economic and baby boom. As the headquarters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Monroe convent housed more than 1,200 nuns of the order.
But over the years, enrollment waned at St. Mary’s Academy. In 1970, they closed the grade school. In 1983, they also closed their boarding program. Eventually, the day student enrollment for the high school declined so much that in 1988 IHM merged the academy with Monroe Catholic Central, making St. Mary Catholic Central High School.
The sisters tried to use the academy as a conference center. Despite their efforts, the academy building ended up vacant and the 300-acre property broke up, with La-Z-Boy buying 120 acres of IHM land for a new world headquarters.
I’ve driven past the convent property dozens of times. I’ve never walked up to the academy. Until this past month.
After passing the no trespassing signs, I walked the grounds in front of the old academy. It was a cloudy day, and the sun was setting with a light breeze and cool evening air encroaching. The saplings I had noticed from pictures were now overgrown, unkempt trees, and the loop-around drive in front of the academy was on its way to becoming gravel. There were only two other souls walking around as I approached the cracked steps of the entrance. The doors were locked with chains. I looked up at the structure and noticed many broken windows, weathered edifices, video surveillance signs, and peeling window frames.
Looking upon the vacuous structure, it felt like staring at a hollowed out carcass. Even when driving away, the small cross at the top of the tower popped above the trees. It’s such a large building that its abandonment is felt even a few blocks away.
Masserant’s plan is a good one. He wants to preserve the heart of the building—the chapel, the library, the foyer, and front entrance— while changing other parts of the building. His goal is to do historic preservation while also renovating 115 apartment units, adding new businesses and restaurants. The academy has 16 acres of land to construct parking spaces. He has a lot to work with. If all goes as planned, construction will begin this summer.
Why did the Catholic spirit of Monroe decline? At helicopter view, the convent is a large part of Monroe’s downtown. Seeing it shrivel today, would make the builders of the academy building scratch their heads.
Clearly, Catholicism has declined in Monroe. But so has the population. Monroe is declining, with its recent census at a down 2% from the 2020 census. The days of the Baby Boom are gone. Few know this, but that increase in our nation’s fertility was a Roman Catholic baby boom. By the late 1950s, 22% of Catholics had four or more children. If modern America can’t replace itself, how would she produce more students for Catholic schools like St. Mary’s? How would she produce nuns to replenish the dwindling sisters at IHM?
With this in mind, Catholic colleges are also in trouble. This spring, Sienna Heights will be closing its doors, just like Marygrove College did in 2019. Once these colleges close, what do they become? They are like Europe’s castles, shadows of what once was and will never be again.
Yet in America, we don’t do the castle thing. We reinvent institutions. If a local Monroe man is going to turn an old religious institution into something useful again, there is hope. We need more Masserants willing to show honor to the past while living faithfully for cities in the present. At least they aren’t turning the old church building into a rainbow flag coffee shop.
But even if Mr. Masserant wins at every level and the beautiful architecture of St. Mary’s Academy stands for another hundred years, with businesses and renters fill the empty square footage, it will still be delaying the inevitable ruination of the property.
Our hearts of stone must soften. We must be fruitful once again if we want any of our institutions to pass from generation to generation.
