The Orphanage of the Holy Angels was the first orphanage in the Mother Lode and in the interior of California.

On April 2, 1866 the first orphans were accepted - a family of four children from Sierra County. A few days later another family of four from Shasta County. Within two months, thirty orphans were accepted without remuneration.

In spite of the Sisters intentions to serve the sick, poor and needy without remuneration, financial pressure from creditors forced them to open a select boarding school in 1868.

In 1878, the name was changed from Orphanage of the Holy Angels to Convent of the Holy Angels, and in 1880, the name was changed to Mt. St. Mary's Academy.

In 1880, there were forty boarding pupils, sixty orphan girls and forty orphan boys. In 1898, there were one hundred orphan girls and ninety orphan boys. Mining accidents were largely to blame for the large number of orphans.

Boarding pupils were housed in Mount St. Mary's until 1927, when the present school was erected and boarders moved there. Classrooms were housed in Mount St. Mary's until 1966. The Sisters of Mercy occupied the building until Christmas 1968.

Adapted from the NRHP nomination.

The academy building recalls the simple and free Palladian Renaissance architecture found in the rural foothills of northern Italy. The entrance, which is at second floor level, is reached by a bold, free-standing stairway jutting forty feet into the lovely brick-walled garden.

There is no one big room in the academy building. Most of the many rooms are well proportioned, well lighted and finished with plaster and good woodwork.

St. Joseph's Chapel is connected to the north end of the academy. Its design is Gothic vernacular with a very steep roof. Exterior walls are faced with rustic siding and shingles. A dramatic stairway similar to that of the academy leads from the garden level to the chapel entrance on second floor level.

Adapted from the NRHP nomination.

Mount Saint Mary's Academy and Convent is also California Historical Landmark 855.

When we photographed the academy building in 2005 and again in 2013, it housed the Saint Joseph's Cultural Center.