Mount Mercy academy opened as Sacred Heart Academy in 1906 with ten residents and no day students. The first boarder to be registered was preschooler Anne O’Brien of Monti, whose mother had just died and who stayed at Sacred Heart until her graduation from high school in 1920. On the original staff of the academy were the following Sisters: Mother Mary Gertrude McCullough, Sister Mary Columba Devine, Sister Mary Bernadine Goulding, Sister Mary Mercedes Lovett, Sister Mary Agnes Cotter, Sister Mary Theodore Lyons, and Sister Mary Hilda Carroll. The first graduate of the all-girl academy was Nellie Duffy.In 1909 the cornerstone of the north wing of the academy was laid; and in March, 1910, the building was completed and the residents moved into it. The Iowa Committee on Secondary Schools gave its accreditation to Sacred Heart Academy on August 23, 1916. The school became Mount Mercy Academy on August 19, 1924, and Mount Mercy was accredited by North Central on March 17, 1931. In 1950 the boarding and day school had fifty-five students. With the opening of interparochial Regis High School in 1958, Mount Mercy Academy was closed. Source: Monsignor Thomas E. Toale, Ph. D. (2001). Go Forth and Teach: Continuing the Challenge. Dubuque, IA - Iowa: Loras College Press. Archdiocese of Dubuque.