On Monday, April 28, 2025, during a special gathering at 4:30pm, the St. Augustine City Commission will present the first of two 2025 Adelaide Sanchez Awards to the Sisters of St. Joseph recognizing their work to rehabilitate the St. Benedict the Moor Schoolhouse, just prior to the regularly scheduled City Commission meeting.

Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline nominated two recipients this year, the Sisters of St. Joseph and former Florida State Representative Cyndi Stevenson, and the City Commission unanimously supported both.  The award nomination is made by a member of the City Commission and approved; then presented in May to coincide with Historic Preservation Month.  However, with two award recipients this year, and only one meeting in May, the first award, to the Sisters of St. Joseph, is being presented in April.  The second award will be presented to Stevenson on Monday, May 12, with details forthcoming.

This presentation to the Sisters of St. Joseph, which is open to the public, will be held in The Alcazar Room of City Hall, located at 75 King St., and may be viewed via live-stream online at www.CityStAugTV.com, where it will be available for on-demand viewing the following day.

Preserving St. Benedict the Moor Schoolhouse
The St. Benedict the Moor Schoolhouse was built in 1898 with funds donated by Sr. Katherine Drexel and was operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph to teach black students who attended the school.

In 1916 three sisters were put on house arrest for teaching black students, initially being charged with violating the Florida law prohibiting white teachers from instructing blacks; however, the charges were dropped as the law did not apply to private schools.

During World War II, it served as the USO for Black Soldiers while St. Benedict Church hosted the first Diocesan Convention for Negro Catholics in 1941.  Years later Martin Luther King Jr. used the rectory of the church as a meeting place to plan marches during the Civil Rights movement.

St. Benedict the Moor School still serves as a reminder of the long fight for equality.  It operated during the days of segregation until 1964 when it was closed as part of school desegregation legislation.

The nearly 125-year-old schoolhouse building, which sits in the Lincolnville district and is on the National Register of Historic Places, was in critical need of restoration.  After years of neglect, and deterioration, the structure was beyond compromised and needed to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Beginning in January 2022, the Sisters of St. Joseph, in collaboration with the Diocese of St. Augustine, began the momentous task to restore and adapt the historic St. Benedict the Moor Schoolhouse as the new St. Joseph Neighborhood Center, a place of ministry and community.

The Sisters of St. Joseph dedicated themselves to preserving this rich history and restored the structure with the mission to repurpose it, serving a population in need.  The restoration was completed, and it was reopened in March 2024.

Today, the Sisters of St. Joseph have reopened its doors to continue their mission in collaboration with community partners, responding to the inequities faced by women and children in our community through education, spiritual growth, inter-generational mentoring, and community support.

Adelaide Sanchez Award
The Adelaide Sanchez Award’s namesake was a native of St. Augustine and worked at the St. Augustine Record from 1930 through 1943 where she was a reporter, features writer, society editor and the Associated Press correspondent.  She joined the staff of The Miami Herald where she worked for 30 years serving as Assistant Woman’s Editor covering numerous society events during that city’s very formative three decades.  After her retirement in 1973, she returned to St. Augustine and continued writing until her death in 1994 through newsletters for the Flagler Hospital Auxiliary and Trinity Episcopal Church and biographical sketches that were included in the program for Cross and Sword.

It is Adelaide Sanchez’s appreciation and love of the City’s historic properties, and her active promotion to ensure the preservation of those resources that garnered this award being named in her honor. Her support of historic resources is a classic example of one who “walked the walk.”

In accordance with her wishes, her home on Marine St. was bequeathed to the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board. After the board’s abolishment, the property was transferred to the City of St. Augustine and sold with the proceeds being held in trust, as per her wishes, with the interest earned being designated for awards, programs, and stipends with the goal of advancing the interests of historic restoration, preservation, education, and interpretation.

Recipients of the Adelaide Sanchez Award for Historic Preservation, Restoration, Education and Interpretation receive a statuette of the lions that grace the western side of the Bridge of Lions. The molds for the replicas were crafted by St. Augustine sculptor Enzo Torcoletti.

For more information about the Adelaide Sanchez Award and a complete list of recipients, visit the City’s website: www.CityStAug.com/Awards.

Media inquiries may be directed to Melissa Wissel, Communications Director, at 904.293.3307.