History:

"Let each one of you carry a dream in his heart and turn it into a wonderful reality."
Pope John XXIII
Address to High School Students
May 19, 1960

Reflecting the words of the visionary Pope John XXIII, Boylan Catholic High School opened its doors on September 7, 1960. Named in honor of the Most Reverend John J. Boylan, third Bishop of Rockford, the school was built in response to the leadership of Bishop Loras T. Lane who saw the need to serve the Catholic community with a co-educational high school. His exhortation to “Seek excellence in all you do,” has echoed through the school’s first half century.

Boylan Catholic High School continues a long tradition of Catholic education begun in 1910 by St. Thomas High School. This school, at first coeducational, became a school for boys in 1929 when Bishop Muldoon High School for girls opened. St. Thomas closed in 1962, while Muldoon graduated its last class in 1970.

Boylan is proud of its distinguished tradition of excellence which includes a number of firsts: the first school in Northwestern Illinois to incorporate computer aided design (CADD) in its industrial arts curriculum (1989); the first in Rockford to initiate a Natural Helpers program (1985); the first in the city to have a Mock Trial Team (1992) and the first to publish a magazine featuring student literary and artistic works (1986). Boylan is the first and only high school in Northwestern Illinois to receive three United States Department of Education Exemplary School Awards in 1987, 1991, and 1998.

The Mock Trial Team brought the school its first State Championship in 1999, a second in 2001. The 2002 Boys’ Golf Team became the first athletic team to win a State Championship.

Student service is also a Boylan tradition. For years, Boylan students have served others through the Christmas food basket drive, support of the Haitian Project, and as ministers to hospitals, nursing homes and social agencies. Students also provide educational opportunities for their peers by participating in the annual Spirit Walk and Speed McCoy Scholarship fundraisers. Customs such as the Father-Daughter and Mother-Son Dances and Homecoming cut across time, bringing alumni, now parents themselves, back to the place of their youth.

Today, Boylan's traditions and excellence continue under the leadership of the school's seventh principal who along with the faculty, staff and students, continue the tradition of educating in excellence.

Boylan Catholic Time Line History