The Sisters of Saint Joseph were among the first Catholic communities to be founded by the ordinary women who shared the desire for union with God and the “dear neighbor”. The roots of the community go back to France in 1650 when six sisters joined a Jesuit priest to begin this religious congregation. The Sisters of Saint Joseph came to America in 1836 to found a deaf school in St. Louis Missouri. From there they spread across the United States beginning new ministries and now are known as the United States Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.

The Academy of Saint Joseph was founded in 1856 by the sisters of Saint Joseph in Flushing, NY. It is a Catholic college-preparatory school for girls in grades 6-12. It is operated independent of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Center. The school is open to all girls regardless of religious affiliation.

In 1896 three hundred acres of land in Brentwood NY, then known as Pine Park, became available for purchase. The tract included the former Pearsall residence and the 125 room Austral Hotel. The Sisters of Saint Joseph had outgrown their facility in Flushing. It was through the efforts of Mother Mary Louis and the Bishop of Brooklyn that they bought the Pine Park property in Brentwood to develop more spacious quarters for the Academy and Novitiate. The Austral Hotel became the Mother House and the first Chapel was reconstructed from a former building on the estate.

The construction of the first and original wing of the Academy of Saint Joseph was called St. Louis Hall. The formal opening took place in 1903 with ninety-seven students in attendance. By 1911 the Academy had outgrown its original building. Plans were made and implemented for a newer and larger structure extending eastward from St. Louis Hall. This new main building of classrooms and dormitories was St. Joseph’s Hall.

In 1929 the present Convent Mother House and the Sacred Heart Chapel were opened and became the most important part of the Academy’s cluster of buildings. The Chapel was designed to be the heart of the community of St Joseph. The spiritual lives of the Sisters of the Congregation as well as the young women who attend the Academy are centered around the Chapel of the Sacred Heart.

- A. Bennett, Local History Room Newsletter, November 2007.