School History

Saint George School is located in Tinley Park in the far southwest corner of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Currently we have an enrollment of 300 students with a faculty and staff of 18 part-time and full-time teachers. We are part of Saint George Parish, which has over 3,000 registered families. Our school opened its doors to eighty students on September 7, 1949. We have had a long and successful history of making Catholic education available to hundreds of children from Saint George and the surrounding parishes.

In the late 1940s, as pastor, Father Fitzpatrick saw the need for a parish school because of the growing number of families who were moving into the area and the World War II veterans who were starting families. But how could the parish do this with little or no funds? With the blessings of the pastor and government approval, the men of the parish dismantled two depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps barracks and moved them to Tinley Park.

They reassembled the parts to make a four-room school building. In 1954 Father O’Connell helped the parishioners build a brick school building with four more rooms and a hall below. Additions to the north end of the brick school were made in 1957 and 1962. The 1957 addition replaced the first school and the 1962 section added ten more rooms. In 1998, under Fr. Cahill’s pastorate, the library, computer lab, and gym were part of the building of the Parish Life Center. School offices and a modern entrance were added to the south end of the original brick school in 2001.

The Order of Mantellate Sisters, Servants of Mary of Blue Island was invited to staff the school in those early days and they remain part of the teaching staff to this day. Saint George School has served three generations of children. Our graduates have entered all walks of business and professional life. We are proud of all of them. But, we are even more proud that these Saint George graduates have become adult members and leaders in their parish communities. In addition, we want them to know that we are continuing to build on and strengthen the traditions, which these alums have forged.