Bishop England High School Centennial Celebration, 1915-2015

Bishop England High School (BEHS), a Catholic high school, was founded in 1915 by Reverend Joseph O'Brien and Reverend J.J. May with the approval of Henry N. Northrop, fourth bishop of Charleston.  The school offered two courses of study, Classical and Commercial, and was conducted in the Cathedral Grammar School building on Queen Street.  After the first year, Mrs. Thomas F. Ryan of New York, New York, donated property, formerly the Cenacle Sisters house, to the diocese to be used for the new high school building.  The school moved to the new location and it was renamed Bishop England High School after the first bishop of Charleston, John England. The students remained in the former convent until 1919 when they transferred to a temporary building on George Street while awaiting construction of the new high school building at 203 Calhoun Street. In 1921, Bishop William Russell laid the cornerstone for the new building and it opened in 1922. The students remained on Calhoun Street, with multiple additions to accommodate the growth of students until 1995, when David Thompson, the eleventh bishop of Charleston decided the grounds of BEHS would no longer serve for the Catholic school.  In 1997, Bishop Thompson blessed the grounds on Daniel Island where the new school building was erected.  The school opened in the fall of 1998 where it remains today.