Cardinal Muench Seminary

Cardinal Muench Seminary was established as a diocesan High School seminary in 1962, named after Aloisius Cardinal Muench., the third bishop of the Diocese of Fargo. The seminary students lived at 1310 Broadway, site of the Sacred Heart Convent, which had been damaged in the tornado of 1957; and took classes at Shanley High School. As the enrollment expanded, it became apparent that the facility was inadequate, and a new facility was constructed at 100 35th Avenue N.E. Bishop Leo F. Dworschak dedicated the facility on August 22, 1966. The new facility offered an accredited high school and college program. Through an agreement with North Dakota State University and the Board of Higher Education, the college seminarians matriculated at NDSU, while the seminary provided Philosophy, Humanities and Classics instructors for the University.

In the early 1990s, enrollment declined, and it no longer was feasible to continue the high school seminarian program. The high school program ended in 2001. The enrollment continued to decline and in 2010, Bishop Aquila announced that the Cardinal Muench Seminary would close. The las day of operation was May 13, 2011. Diocese of Fargo sold the property, and the facility was demolished in September 2014, to make way for a housing development. A more extensive history is available on the Fargo Catholic Diocese
website.