“Together, this Jesuit priest and five dedicated sisters who left a comfortable convent to teach for $ 35 a month, “transformed the moral and civic condition of the near west side of the city,” Father Garvy once told a tour of visitors to St. Joseph’s.
Father Garvy was a native of the Holy Family neighborhood. One of seven children, he was born on nearby Lytle street and baptized in Holy Family church by Father Damen, S.J. in 1868. His father, John, was a successful building contractor who sat on the West Side Parks Commission and the Chicago School Board.