Father Ryan High School will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, but its storied Nashville history goes back even further. In 1914, Thomas Sebastian Byrne, the bishop of Nashville, began plans for the Nashville Catholic High School for Boys. Following a series of setbacks, including Byrne’s 1923 death, the school opened its doors in September 1925. Thanks to the Catholic community’s generosity, the school operated tuition-free for three decades. 

The school, renamed Father Ryan in 1929 when it moved from its original West End location to an Elliston Place campus, went on to mark many milestones. In 1954, it became the first of two schools in Tennessee to integrate. In 1970, it merged with the all-female Cathedral High School to become a coeducational institution. Twenty-one years later, the school made the move to its current address on Norwood Drive. 

Today, the school is home to more than 830 students, who are able to choose from over 200 courses, 31 sports teams and more than 40 clubs and organizations as they prepare for college.