Archbishop Prendergast alumnae returned for a ‘pre-demolition sale’ to preserve pieces of their alma mater

Lori Ferry hadn’t stepped inside Archbishop Prendergast High School in 44 years before returning Saturday morning to reclaim a piece of her childhood.

Her alma mater had changed significantly since she graduated with 900 other girls in 1978. Cracked linoleum, missing ceiling tiles, and dangling light fixtures dominated the empty classrooms and pockmarked hallways of the landmark Delaware County Catholic high school, which has been vacant since 2012.

“You feel a certain way, when your childhood home is gone, your parish is gone, and now this is leaving, too,” Ferry said, standing in the same auditorium where she received her diploma four decades ago. “Time just keeps moving on, I guess.”

Scores of alumnae flocked to “Prendie” on Saturday, and will return Sunday, for a final pre-demolition sale before the building is razed. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia merged the Drexel Hill school, built in 1907 as an orphanage, with the all-boys Monsignor Bonner High School 10 years ago amid financial troubles.

The Archbishop Prendergast building was sold to Delaware County Community College in 2019, with plans to turn it into a satellite campus. Only the historic facade will remain. So now, ahead of the demolition, nearly everything, from windows and doorknobs to books still sitting on library shelves, is up for grabs.

Ferry spent her Saturday trying to pry loose one of the school auditorium’s chairs as a memento. She was joined by Nicole Reilly, a 2009 graduate, who had the same mission.

Despite their gap in years, Ferry and Reilly found common ground as they toured the remains of the school. Both, they learned Saturday, had contributed to a $5 million fund-raising effort in 2012 that persuaded then-Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput to keep both Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast open, creating the merged, co-ed high school next door.

“My whole family went here, and I’ll always be a Prendie girl,” Reilly said. “We all considered it a second home.”

Down a nearby hallway, Chenise Mason and Anna Turkowski, members of the Class of 2002, laughed over memories of their 20-year friendship that began in the building.

“For years, this was our community, our own world, and a lot of us became who we are here,” Mason said. “We shared major moments — people came out, people lost their parents — all within these four walls.”

» READ MORE: From 2012: "Real estate rumors trail Bonner/Prendie shutdown"

Mason’s time at Archbishop Prendergast inspired her to pursue a career in teaching, and she always intended to send her daughter to the school.

Upstairs, in the room that once held the school’s chapel, Lori Bollinger gave son Guy a history lesson. Pews that once held her and thousands of other students, including her three sisters, had been disassembled and laid flat against the faded walls.

Bollinger waited her turn to grab four bricks — one each for her and her sisters — from the pile near where the room’s altar had been placed.

“This building has so much history, it’s depressing to see it like this,” she said. “I never thought it would be gone one day, so I knew I had to come see it one last time.”

» READ MORE: From 2012: "At twinned Delco high schools, raw grief at closings"