School History: From St. Mary’s to Lansing Catholic Central

St. Mary's High School had its first graduating class in 1904. This was the start of what would become Lansing Catholic Central High School. A separate high school for St. Mary's was built behind the Cathedral in 1939 for $140,000 in downtown Lansing.

A second high school graduated its first class in 1939. This high school was known as Resurrection High School. At this time Resurrection did not have a separate building for the school. Ground breaking for the school was also in the same year, 1939. The school was built on Michigan Avenue near Resurrection Parish. Both St. Mary's and Resurrection continued to operate until 1963.

In 1963 two new high schools were built to replace St. Mary's and Resurrection. They were called Monsignor John W. O'Rafferty High School (Raiders) and Monsignor John H. Gabriels High School (Shamrocks). O'Rafferty was located on West Saginaw in Delta Township. Gabriels was located at the corner of Saginaw and Marshall in Lansing. Due to financial difficulties the decision was made to consolidate the schools.

This consolidation was done in 1970. O'Rafferty closed and Gabriels was renamed and reopened as Lansing Catholic Central High School (Cougars). The first school year at Catholic Central was 1970-1971. There were 1,300 students at the school that year. Catholic Central continues to operate to this day at the southwest corner of Saginaw and Marshall.