St. Francis de Sales Academy/Bennington Sports Center

St. Francis de Sales Academy was built in 1899. In its early years, it was used mostly by Irish Catholic parishioners. Classroom space was originally on the third floor, while the rest of the building accommodated the local temperance society, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Knights of Columbus, and an assembly hall. The academy was, along with the Sacred Heart School, one of two parochial schools serving elementary pupils in Bennington throughout much of the 1900s. In 1954, a campaign began to build an addition that became Bennington Catholic High School, constructed the following year. The building included a chapel, fourteen classrooms, a library, a gymnasium, home economics rooms, a laboratory, a cafeteria, locker and shower rooms, and an infirmary. Bennington Catholic High School welcomed its first class in 1956, but closed in 1967. The Bennington School district acquired the building, and it became Catamount Elementary School soon after. Catamount Elementary School closed in 2007, after a local referendum. The building complex is now home to the Bennington Sports Center, although it still bears signage for Catamount Elementary.