(5/2) At its May 2 meeting, the Town Council approved the next stop on the town’s historic Wayside exhibit tour. The town has been working for several years to create a walking tour highlighting historically significant sites through town.

The St. Euphemia School wayside will be exhibit number 12 on the tour and is anticipated to be located on DePaul Street, town grant administrator Madeline Shaw said.

The St. Euphemia's School was a Catholic grade school founded by St. Joseph’s parish, operated by the Daughters of Charity, it served student in first through eighth grade from 1878 to 1956.

Mayor Don Briggs sought to highlight the St. Euphemia School due to the cultural significance with integration, ten years earlier than the U.S Supreme Court ruling. Although segregation laws across America made integrated classrooms illegal until 1954, they did not apply to private schools and St. Euphemia’s begin admitting Black students in 1886, albeit black students where separated form white students and all taught in the same single room.

Based on documents from the Daughters of Charity archives, St. Euphemia finally integrated its classrooms in 1944, 10 years ahead on the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that mandated it nationally.

Town staff were grateful to the Daughters as well as the Frederick County Public Library for their assistance in researching the history. "We worked very closely with the Daughters of Charity on this and their archives," Briggs said.

The exhibit is being funded in part from a Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area grant, Shaw said.

Following unanimous board approval, the next step of the project will be sent for fabrication and the display is anticipated to be set up by this month.

After the exhibit is created and installed, two more exhibits will be established along with a complete brochure to finish out the tour project.

Completed wayside tour exhibits in town also include ones on the history of the Square, the Emmit House, the Doughboy Statue, Vigilant Hose Company, the Emmitsburg Railroad, and Saint Joseph’s College.