From 1864 to 1897, more than 50 Daughters of Charity were missioned to the rough and tumble mining community of Virginia City, Nevada. Under the most difficult of circumstances, the three pioneers - Sisters Frederica McGrath, Elizabeth Russell and Xavier Schauer - opened St. Mary’s School and Asylum shortly after their arrival in 1864, and St. Marie Louise Hospital years later in 1875. By the mid-1890s, mining activity ceased and the population dwindled, leaving the Daughters to withdraw their ministries. Four hundred and fifty one citizens sent a petition to Emmitsburg to prevent the Daughters from leaving. While their petition failed, the Daughters of Charity did return to Nevada in the 1950s to sponsor St. Teresa School in Carson City.