In 1873 four Sisters of St. Joseph of Brooklyn (now Brentwood) arrived at St. Thomas parish in Jamaica Plain. They found a city filled with new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe who had joined the earlier Irish immigrants. Four days after their arrival the sisters opened an elementary school for girls in the basement of the church. 200 students applied the first day. By 1877, with the acceptance of 30 boys, St. Thomas School became the first co-educational Catholic school in New England. In the Archdiocese of Boston, the sisters opened, staffed, and/or sponsored over 125 educational institutions, including schools for children with special needs.