St Mary's Preparatory

St. Mary’s Preparatory sits on 115 acres of land located at Commerce and Orchard Lake Roads in Orchard Lake, Michigan. We are roughly 25 miles northwest of Detroit. Our Campus sits beautifully on 200 feet of shoreline on Orchard Lake. With immaculate views of Orchard Lake, we have 32 buildings on campus.

We are a Catholic, college preparatory high school with a Polish-American heritage and legacy since 1885 A.D. We exist to provide deserving students with the moral guidance, discipline, and education to become Christ-like models of service and leadership for the world.

Starting in the Fall semester of 2020, our historic institution will break new ground with the opening of the St. Mary's Preparatory Girls Division. This unique model will allow us to educate young women with the same Christ-like model that we have used use to educate young men for over 135 years. With 135 years of Catholic Education on our campus, St. Mary's Preparatory is one of the premiere Catholic boys educational institutions in the nation.

At St. Mary’s Prep, we recognize that not all students have an interest in athletics as an extracurricular activity. Therefore, we offer a number of clubs and organizations and encourage all students to join something that truly interests them. Students are always welcome to institute or establish a new club or organization with the support of a faculty member. Here are a few of the clubs and organizations we currently offer at OLSM

The Academic Building of the Michigan Military was constructed in 1877 and was described in an 1891 publication as "one of the most complete school buildings in the West." The building still serves as an Academic Center for St. Mary's Preparatory. Among those who attended classes here were Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of Tarzan, and Frank Joslyn Baum, whose father wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. On June 1, 1909, the history of Michigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake came to an end with its sale by the Rogers family to Attorney Allen Campbell, who represented an unknown purchaser. The bid had been $24,000, subject to nodded indebtedness held by the Union Trust Company, and the widow's dower amounting to about $8,000. The final price came to $83,000 and the sale was completed on June 22, 1909, when Attorney Campbell handed the attorney for the Roger's Estate a check for $24,000.

For a period of time, many had thought that the Jesuits had purchased the property; however, the rumor soon began that officers of the Polish Seminary in Detroit had been looking over the grounds, since their present quarters, in Detroit, had proven to be inadequate for the growing number of students.

The only building to exist on the grounds prior to the founding of the Academy was "The Castle." Built-in 1858 by Judge Joseph Tarr Copeland upon his retirement from the Michigan Supreme Court, the ten-room house was converted into a hotel in 1872 with the addition of two wooden wings. The panic of 1873 killed the enterprise.