Construction of a combination school-church building and pastor's residence was begun in September of 1886. St. Matthew's School was soon organized. Original enrollment on September 5, 1887, was 110 pupils. The church basement had three classrooms, and served as residence for the school's first teaching staff - three School Sisters of Notre Dame and a candidate.

The original school building was completed in 1902. Classes at the time were taught in German in the morning and English in the afternoon. Fr. Francis Schaefer was pastor from 1928 to 1932, during which time a large new addition to the school was built, containing 12 classrooms, a large gymnasium/ auditorium, a bowling alley, library, and kitchen.

Memories

Quality education at St. Matthew's has always meant providing students opportunities to achieve excellence in all aspects of their development.

In 1931, the St. Matthew's baseball team won the St. Paul City Parochial School championship. They defeated St. Bernard's at Baker field.

Their coach was Al Gross. Joe Blissenblach pitched a very good game and John Guertin hit a homer to knock in the winning run.

An athletic plaque was hung in the hallway in school by Father Benz with the names of the stars, Joe Blissenblach and John Guertin inscribed to honor their accomplishments.

On Easter Monday, 1968, the 81-year-old original church was destroyed by fire. Fortunately the blaze was far enough from the school building to leave it unscathed. Parishioners joined together and built a new church – a modern, multi-purpose facility, completed in 1970. The basement social hall in the new structure now provides an excellent facility for the school lunch program. The school enrollment currently is 215 students in Kindergarten through 8th grade.