On May 5, 1926, Bishop Schrembs gave his permission for Fr. Boeke to build St. Paul School. Just over five months later, on Sunday, October 24, the Bishop came to bless the building. This original structure contained eleven classrooms. Two sisters and two lay teachers taught in four classrooms. There were 157 students. It was this event that occasioned the writing of the 1926 “History of St. Paul’s Parish,” which was published in a souvenir book printed for that day.

The history concludes:
“At last the dream of the people of St. Paul’s was to be fulfilled. Overcoming many difficulties and obstacles, it was finally decided in the spring of 1926 to commence the erection of the new school. Plans were perfected by Mr. William Koehl of Cleveland, and in April the contract was let to the Carmichael Construction Co. – prominent builders of Akron – for a modern school building to cost $80,000. On May 13th, ground was broken for a new school. Amidst a great gathering of people from the city of Akron, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Schreiber laid the cornerstone on Sunday, June the 13th, 1926.

Today St. Paul School stands completed, a dream and a heart’s ambition chiseled in stone. The school contains eight classrooms, a library, large gymnasium with showers, and is modern in every respect.

It is the newest and one of the best equipped buildings of its kind in the city and adds materially to scenic beauty of Firestone Park. Being located at the southern edge of the Park, it is in the direct path of the future expansion of Akron – the City of Opportunity.”

In 1945, when World War II ended, a building boom engulfed Firestone Park. In 1946, a $275,000 north wing was added to the school, including a cafeteria. Five years later, $125,000 was spent to add a third floor to this wing. In 1958, another wing was added to the St. Paul School structure. The $350,000 project added a larger social hall, currently named Boeke Hall, a chapel which seated more people than the church building, and more classrooms. The chapel was intended to be turned into more classrooms should the school continue to grow.

In addition to the growth of the building, enrollment also grew under the leadership of Fr. Boeke. At first, the school grew rather slowly. When the school opened in 1926, there were 176 students. At the end of WWII, enrollment had increased to 600 students. During the 1950s, the school began to gain students at a rate of one hundred per year, growing to be the largest Catholic elementary school in the city of Akron and the third largest in the diocese of Cleveland. When Msgr. Boeke died in 1961, enrollment had reached its highest with 1,596 students.