The oldest Catholic high school in Omaha was founded as part of a major family’s donation to the church. Throughout the years, its expanded and moved, staying aligned with its history but moving quickly into the future. This is a history of Creighton High School in North Omaha.

Creighton High School was opened as part of Creighton College in 1878. Located in the basement of Creighton Hall, it was also run by the Jesuits. Its unknown exactly how many students were in the high school the first year it opened. However, as part of Mary Lucretia Creighton’s will, the high school was strictly for boys, which its remained ever since. Tuition at the high school was free for many decades.

For 37 years from 1878 to 1915, Creighton followed the European academic tradition of a seven-year college course. For all students, the first three years were equivalent to high school and the next four were spent earning a bachelor’s degree. Under this system, an athlete could be on a varsity sports team for six or seven years.

The university and the school decided to part ways in 1952, and the next year land was bought elsewhere in the city. The high school was split from the university in 1958 and was called Creighton Preparatory School, and today it’s commonly called Creighton Prep.

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MY ARTICLES ABOUT THE HISTORY OF CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY
BUILDINGS: Creighton Observatory | Creighton Hall | Campion House | St. John’s Parish | Creighton High School
RELATED: Count Creighton House | Creighton Working Girls Home | Omaha DePorres Club | Beal’s Grill | Holy Family Parish

MY ARTICLES ABOUT THE HISTORY OF SCHOOLS IN NORTH OMAHA

GENERAL: Segregated Schools | Higher Education
PUBLIC GRADE SCHOOLS: Beechwood | Belvedere | Cass | Central Park | Dodge Street | Druid Hill | Florence | Fort Omaha School | Howard Kennedy | Kellom | Lake | Long | Miller Park | Minne Lusa | Monmouth Park | North Omaha (Izard) | Omaha View | Pershing | Ponca | Saratoga | Sherman | Walnut Hill | Webster
PUBLIC MIDDLE SCHOOLS: McMillan | Technical
PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS: North | Technical | Florence
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS: Creighton | Dominican | Holy Angels | Holy Family | Sacred Heart | St. Benedict | St. John | St. Therese
LUTHERAN SCHOOLS: Hope | St. Paul
HIGHER EDUCATION: Omaha University | Creighton University | Presbyterian Theological Seminary | Joslyn Hall | Jacobs Hall | Fort Omaha
EDUCATORS: Eugene Skinner | Lucinda Williams nee Lucy Gamble | Edmae Swain
COMMUNITY EDUCATORS: George McPherson | Florentine Pinkston | “Professor” PJ Waddle | Christine Althouse | Bertha Calloway | Beverly Blackburn
COMMUNITY EDUCATION ORGANIZERS: Edwin Overall | Lerlean N. Johnson | Nellie Mae Webb | Ernie Chambers | BANTU
MORE: Fort Street Special School for Incorrigible Boys | Nebraska School for the Deaf and Dumb

Listen to the North Omaha History Podcast on “The History of Schools in North Omaha” »

Elsewhere Online

• “A History of Creighton Prep” official Creighton University website
• “Creighton Preparatory School” Wikipedia article

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