Bishop Hendricken High School opened its doors to some 350 students in September 1959 under the leadership of Br. Francois Guibault, C.S.C, the school’s first principal. Named for the Most Reverend Bishop Thomas F. Hendricken, the very first Bishop of Providence, the school was originally staffed by the Brothers of the Holy Cross and run in their traditions as a private, Catholic high school.
Two short years later, with enrollment increasing at parochial schools across Rhode Island, the original 22-classroom building had reached its limit of nearly 800 students.
Through the 1960s, Bishop Hendricken flourished, garnering recognition across the Ocean State for academic and athletic achievements.