{"id":383,"date":"2026-07-31T19:26:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/?page_id=383"},"modified":"2026-09-18T16:31:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:31:24","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">School History at St. Anthony of Padua<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">St. Anthony of Padua Church was established by Father Otto Rezktenwald and a small group of Catholics on August 26, 1906. The church, which was named after St. Anthony of Padua \u2013 the Patron Saint for lost articles, served a community of Polish immigrants along the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One year later, in 1907, the church opened its grade school, St. Anthony of Padua School, to educate the children of parishioners according to the gospel teachings of Jesus Christ. 200 students attended the five to six-room schoolhouse, which was located adjacent to the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"517\" src=\"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/IMG_7405-768x517-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-585\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/IMG_7405-768x517-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/IMG_7405-768x517-1-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>St. Anthony of Padua \u2013 Richmond Street NW \u2013 1983<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"585\" src=\"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DJI_0908-1024x585-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DJI_0908-1024x585-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DJI_0908-1024x585-1-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DJI_0908-1024x585-1-768x439.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>St. Anthony of Padua \u2013 Richmond Street NW \u2013<\/em> 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1957, the school expanded by building a larger structure on 12 acres at 2510 Richmond Street NW, the school\u2019s current site, to accommodate the growing student population. In 2008, St. Anthony of Padua School again remodeled to update its facilities and structure, earning the school a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, approximately 265 students attend St. Anthony of Padua School. Our preschool through 8th-grade Catholic school is led by Pastor, Fr. Tony Pelak and Principal, Jenny Pudelko.<a href=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/school\/admissions\/schedule-a-visit\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"saop-section saop-image-buttons not-prose alignwide mb-30 mt-30 pb-2 aligncenter wp-block-acf-image-buttons\" data-saop-section>\n\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"relative mb-15 flex flex-col gap-9 after:absolute after:top-15 after:-right-10 after:-left-10 after:-z-10 after:h-full after:rounded-2lg after:border-4 after:border-accent-2 after:content-[''] md:grid md:grid-cols-3\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<article class=\"relative\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"group\" href=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/school\/admissions\/schedule-a-visit\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"relative after:absolute after:inset-0 after:rounded-2lg after:bg-black\/30 after:shadow-md after:content-['']\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DSCF2405-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"md:aspect-2\/3 lg:aspect-4\/3 object-cover rounded-2lg shadow-md max-h-30 md:max-h-none\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DSCF2405-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DSCF2405-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DSCF2405-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DSCF2405-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/DSCF2405.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"absolute top-1\/2 z-1 flex w-full -translate-y-1\/2 flex-col items-center px-2 text-center text-white xl:translate-y-0\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"mb-3 text-xl font-bold uppercase transition-transform md:mb-4 md:text-2xl md:group-hover:-translate-y-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoin Our School Community\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>School History at St. Anthony of Padua St. Anthony of Padua Church was established by Father Otto Rezktenwald and a small group of Catholics on August 26, 1906. The church, which was named after St. Anthony of Padua \u2013 the Patron Saint for lost articles, served a community of Polish immigrants along the Grand River<a href=\"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/history\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;History&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":594,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-383","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":593,"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/383\/revisions\/593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saparish.diocesanweb.org\/school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}