The congregation traces is roots to 1849 and the original community formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Bishop Henni asked the sisters to undertake the domestic management of the recently established seminary. When Father Michael Heiss of Milwaukee became Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse in 1869, the Sisters were invited to move their motherhouse to that city, which move was accomplished in 1871. In La Crosse, under the authority of Heiss, the Sisters become educators. Those who chose to remain in the Seminary ministry became the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, while the sisters based in LaCrosse became known as the "Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration". The practice of Perpetual Adoration they had sought to introduce as part of their community's life was authorized in 1878. This congregation was affiliated to the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, and Pope Pius X, on 6 December 1911, gave it its definite approbation.