First built as Dubuque Female Seminary, changed to Dubuque Female College in 1854, later on called Lady of Lourdes Convalescent Home. According to the Encyclopedia Dubuque, "the school dates to the Dubuque appearance of Catherine Beecher in February 1853. Speaking to a large gathering at the Globe Hall, Beecher offered $20,000 in cash, four teachers, and $1,000 in equipment and books if the City of Dubuque would construct a nonsectarian school and guarantee a given number of students.

The building the City erected was a forty-room Byzantine-style architectural curiosity with turrets and onion-shaped domes. The appearance of the building since its opening has been drastically altered. Rules at the Seminary were strict. Girls were to dress in drab-colored clothes with at least seven layers of petticoats. They were further instructed not to leave anything in the school corridors that might damage their character and to avoid rustling their skirts. Enrollment by 1859 was too small to support the school, and the building was put up for sale. The public school system used the building that year as the high school and agreed to purchase the building, but then found it could not raise the necessary money. Episcopalians bought the school, but small enrollment again led the building to be closed. In 1872 Presbyterians bought the building. The Academy of the Immaculate Conception, directed by the Sisters of St. Francis, used the old school for a time before the building was remodeled in 1954 as a home for the aged named LADY OF LOURDES CONVALESCENT HOME INC.. The building served as the home of the DUBUQUE GIRLS' CLUB before being purchased by the Power of Prayer, Inc."