Bishop O'Dowd High School was established in September, 1951 by the Archdiocese of San Francisco as a Catholic co-institutional memorial high school named in honor of Bishop James T. O'Dowd. At the time of his sudden death in a traffic accident, Bishop O'Dowd was in the process of planning a new Catholic high school in the East Bay.
The school opened with 120 freshmen in facilities provided by St. Louis Bertrand School, with a faculty of two priests and four sisters. The school was staffed by diocesan priests, the Sisters of St. Dominic of Adrian, Michigan and lay men and women. More than 13,000 graduates fulfill roles of leadership and serviceThe late Bishop Mark
Bishop James was born in 1907 in San Francisco. He was the son of Mr ? O' Dowd who came from near Abbeyfeale and his wife Margaret Corridan of Knockmaol. Margaret was one of about 8 children of the marriage of Jamesie Corridan and his first wife , Maria Dillon.
