When Father Joseph Creeden arrived at St. Bernard’s Parish in Saranac Lake in 1922, the parish lacked a school. Father Creeden immediately set out to correct this problem. He acquired a small house located on what is now the school playground. The five-room schoolhouse opened in the fall of 1922. During the second year of operation the school’s enrollment increased to the point where a new school was needed. The present building at 63 River St. was completed in 1924 and classes began in the fall. St. Bernard’s added a sixth grade in 1926, a seventh grade in 1932, and an eighth grade in 1933.

In 1957 Father Zimmerman set out on a plan to build a new Catholic high school. In the fall of 1959 St. Pius X High School opened and at the time students in grades seven and eight were transferred from St. Bernard’s to the new high school. Pius X remained open for 12 years, closing in June 1971. In 1962 a four room primary school was built next to St. Bernard’s elementary building. Today the “Little School,” as it is commonly referred to, houses pre-K through first grades.

The original building now houses grades two through five, in addition to housing our music/art room, library, computer lab, and After School program. Grade six was eliminated in 1976 with the introduction of the middle school concept into the Saranac Lake Central School district.