History of Roman

Thomas E. Cahill was the son of an Irish immigrant.  He was a skilled business man, who amassed a great fortune in coal, ice and wood industries.  He was described by Rev. Dr. Hortsman in 1890 as " the Christian gentleman, the the honest, simple-hearted, humble, practical Catholic."  Cahill and his wife lived a very modest and frugal life, saving their money in order to fulfill their dream of founding a Catholic school for boys.

"The Roman Catholic High School of Philadelphia"- such was the name chosen by our founder, Thomas E. Cahill, in his last will and testament in 1878.  Since that time, we have been known as "The Cahill School", "Catholic High", and as we now call ourselves today "Roman."  It was the first free Catholic high school for boys in the United States. The school opened in 1890 with ample accommodations for about 500 students.                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                                        The school, built on the northeast corner of Broad and Vine Streets, is an imposing figure of gothic architecture.  The main superstructure is of white marble raised on a foundation of granite.  Its white marble tower, 150 feet high, was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1959.  In 1953, the three story building received an additional wing two stories high, which now houses the physics and biology labs, and the cafeteria.

In June of 1997, ground was broken for yet another addition.  This new structure with state-of-the-art Information Center, TV studio, and multi-media computer lab opened in the fall of 1998.  The addition has also added two new classrooms, two new lavatories, and has nearly doubled the size of the existing cafeteria.