Churches took the lead providing education in the Klondike. Although the first school, at Fortymile, closed after the gold discovery at Bonanza Creek and the population shift to Dawson, the demand for public schools grew quickly.
In 1898 the Anglican Church operated a private school for the small number of non-Indian children. That fall, the Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Ann established St. Mary's School, a two-storey red building on the corner of the church property at the north end of Dawson. In 1899 St. Mary's became the Yukon's first government-funded school.
