From “The Macon Telegraph and News”, July 5, 1970
On this eminence on Orange Street at Columbus, facing down Hemlock, Mt. de Sales Academy as it was completed in 1911 still stands, but it is to be razed to make way for new buildings for Mt. de Sales High School. In preparation for its removal, the remaining furnishings of its 90 rooms, accumulation of almost a full century, will be auctioned to the highest bidders and the building itself will be auctioned also. The Sisters of Mercy, who first came to Macon in 1871 as a handful of nuns to set up a mission station and to teach, acquired this site in 1876 when they moved their Motherhouse and boarding school from Columbus to Macon, and Mt. de Sales Academy was chartered that year. When they bought the crest of the hill it was crowned by the home of former Gov. George H. Towns to which they added a brick wing in 1877 and two wooden wings later. The three story and full basement brick building there now was completed in 1911, and some think its central portion embodies the Towns residence. The 10 Sisters of Mercy whose home it has been until this summer, have moved into a smaller, modern building facing College Street which replaces the old Warren Roberts home the Catholics acquired in 1967. This old building and the items they did not move to the new home will be sold July 22 in an auction on this site.
Items to go on the block range from stoves to statues of saints and crucifixes, and include mahogany pews and a white marble altar from the chapel, linens, clocks, big bells that bonged sisters to their duties and students to classes, to electric fans, large and small; an old Victrola and records, air conditioners, water fountains, cedar chests, rocking chairs, straight chairs, desks, towel racks…a baptismal font, two good sewing machines, a white marble mantel from the Roberts home, a Steinway grand piano, used only for recitals, banisters, book cases, marble pedestals, old bath tubs on feet, a painting, a Madonna by Ybarra, 17th century Mexican artist, two old iron urns, an inlaid autoharp, a zither, a violin, and some antique jewelry.
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Mount de Sales Academy is a private Catholic school located in Macon, GA, and serves students in Bibb, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Peach and other surrounding counties. MDS is sponsored and inspired by the Sisters of Mercy. Since 1876, MDS has served a diverse college-preparatory community of learners—students and teachers alike—who are poised to discover, challenged to innovate, and motivated to serve.