Alumni mourn the loss Holy Family College as building is demolished

MANITOWOC – Community members expressed sadness as bulldozers and wrecking balls tear down a well-known lakeshore institution.

Demolition of Holy Family College, the Manitowoc-area private Catholic college formerly known as Silver Lake College, started a few weeks ago. The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sponsored Ministries owns the now-empty campus and requested a permit from the city to tear down the building in late summer.

Citing financial struggles exacerbated by the pandemic, Holy Family closed the doors to its 2406 S. Alverno Road campus in summer 2020 — ending an 85-year run as a four-year college and shuttering an institution that had been around even longer, since the 19th century.

“As a graduate of Silver Lake College, as many of us locally were, it is a sad day to see this chapter come to a complete end,” said Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels. “We can be thankful that generations of individuals received an excellent education and to the Franciscan Sisters. Seeing the building physically come down is disappointing for the long history it provided our community.”

Karen Nichols, executive director of The Chamber of Manitowoc County, said the loss of Holy Family is both a personal and professional loss.

“It’s very sad,” she said. “I was very proud to have attended Holy Family.”

The Chamber held leadership conferences and other events at the campus.

“Of course, we also try to visit other local colleges,” Nichols said. “But Holy Family was special.”

Patty Simmet, who lives in the Whitelaw area, studied nursing at the college. She is disappointed to see the walls come down.

“It’s so sad,” she said. “I studied there, and my younger sister (Lennie Kramer) got her master’s there. The teachers and the nuns were great instructors.”

She and her family have attended events at the school, and she said it was a pillar of the community.

Brian Nichols, director of business development for the city, said the Franciscan Sisters wanted to tear down the building to eliminate upkeep, including utility costs.

Nichols wasn’t aware of any immediate plans to sell or redevelop the site.

Roncalli Catholic Schools considered redeveloping the college site in 2020 for an elementary school.

Renovation of the site would cost more than $18 million, compared with $1.8 million to demolish the building and clear the site, according to a study completed by Growth Design Group and C.D. Smith Construction for Roncalli.

Closure followed 'months of prayer and consideration'

This brings the end of an era for Manitowoc.

The class of 2020 was the final to graduate from Holy Family, which achieved four-year college status in 1935 and was founded as an academy in 1885.

The school was known as Holy Family College from its founding in 1935 until the name change to Silver Lake.

As the decades passed, decreased enrollment and fundraising challenges led to financial struggles for the school. The coronavirus pandemic made a tough situation untenable, according to the Sisters group.

“This decision came after months of prayer and consideration,” Holy Family College President Robert Callahan said at the time of the college's closure. “This decision was not made lightly.”

College administrators worked with other lakeshore universities to form agreements to allow Holy Family College students to transfer as many credits as possible to those schools.

Contact reporter Patti Zarling at pzarling@gannett.com or call 920-606-2586. Follow her on Twitter @PGPattiZarling.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: As Holy Family College building comes down, alumni express sadness