The Rev. Gerhart (Gerard) Wilkes was born at New Munich, Minnesota on October 23, 1874 to Henrick Hohann Wilkes and Mary Terhaar Wilkes.

The family moved to the vicinity of what is now Barney, North Dakota about 1878 and about 1900 further moved to Litchville, North Dakota. Here Gerhart attended the local schools and is likely to have attended St. Johns of Collegeville, Minnesota, since his brother, Herman, was graduated from this school.

Gerhart was ordained a priest sometime before 1908 and he assumed the pastorship of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church of the Fingal area in that year.

In 1909 a Catholic Parochial School was organized in the parish and a school building was erected by the old stone church. The school was named "St. Gerharts (Gerards)" in honor of the pastor at that time, Rev. Gerhart Wilkes. It was blessed by the Rev. Bishop O'Rielly on August 10, 1910.

The first order to administer the school were the Dominican Sisters. In 1912 the Presentation Sisters assumed the administration of the school until its closing in 1918.

Dormitories were provided for those students remaining at the school Monday through Friday and it is said that the teaching was excellent and the discipline vas strict.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 267