History

In 1962, there were 385 students enrolled in St. Augustine High School. In 1963, 200 students were turned away due to lack of space. There was a long waiting list and thus the need for a new high school.

A capital campaign was launched and raised more than $1.5 million in just over a year so that a new high school could be built. Monsignor John R. Hackett High School for boys was built on Kilgore Road. It was dedicated on October 4, 1964. The school was named in recognition for Msgr. Hackett, who had served as the pastor of St. Augustine from 1923 to 1953 and played such an important role in Catholic education in Kalamazoo.

St. Augustine High School was remodeled into Monsignor Frank A. O’Brien High School for girls. Both buildings, Msgr. John R. Hackett High School and Msgr. Frank A. O’Brien High School, were ready for operations at the beginning of the 1964-1965 school year.

Hackett remained an all-boys school for seven years. In September 1971, Monsignor Frank A. O’Brien High School closed and the two schools were merged into what would be known as Monsignor John R. Hackett Catholic Central High School. 

In 2015, the high school name changed once again to Hackett Catholic Prep to reflect the school’s mission statement: “To prepare students for lifelong success by promoting and developing faith, character and academic achievement in a supportive and challenging Catholic faith-based environment.”