St. Mary's Catholic Mission Church was served by fourteen visiting priests until 1911, when it became a parish church and Father Henry Kemper of Chicago became its resident priest. Ordained in 1910 when his death from tuberculosis was thought imminent, Kemper went to St. Mary's Sanitarium in Boerne, learned of the growing Catholic congregation in Kerrville, and spent the rest of his life building what became Notre Dame Catholic Parish and School into a large and giving community devoted to Christian service. After acquiring eight adjoining lots and two houses, he applied to the Archdiocese in San Antonio to build a school for first through twelfth grades. With tuition advertised as "One dollar a month and free to the poor," the school opened on August 28, 1912, with twenty-seven pupils and three nuns from the Sisters of Charity of Incarnate Word: Sisters Cresentia, Dymphna, and Ita. Enrollment tripled by the end of the year. Originally called St. Mary's, the school was renamed in honor of Kemper's alma mater, Notre Dame University. It served the community with night courses in music, languages, and art, and during World War I taught stenography and bookkeeping to ladies filling needed jobs on the home front. To remain open during the Great Depression, it was reduced to eight grades and the night school closed. When Father Kemper died in 1957, the Kerrville Daily Times called him a Hill Country benefactor. For more than a century, Notre Dame Catholic School has educated young people and served its community.