The area that is now the CELC was once an orange grove. In 1903 Dr. R. B. Garnett gave the property to the Sisters of St. Joseph for a school. To raise money to build a new school, children and their parents went to homes asking for 10 cents. After a year of knocking on doors, enough money was raised to build what many knew as St. Agnes School. The original school that was built on this location was a two-story wooden structure that sat where the playground is today. In the mid-1950’s the present school structure was built. Many of the parents and grandparents of the children attending the Early Learning Center today attended St. Agnes in the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. In the Spring of 1987 St. Agnes School was closed, and the CELC began as St. Augustine's first Catholic pre-school!