St. Malachi Church | |
Location | 76 St. Malachi Road Cochranville, PA 19330 |
---|---|
Coordinates | 39°53′48″N75°50′57″W / 39.89667°N 75.84917°W Coordinates: 39°53′48″N75°50′57″W / 39.89667°N 75.84917°W |
Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
Built | 1838 |
MPS | West Branch Brandywine Creek MRA |
NRHP reference No. | 85002376 [1] |
Added to NRHP | September 16, 1985 |
St. Malachi Church is a historic Irish Roman Catholic mission church on St. Malachi Road in rural Londonderry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It is a mission of Our Lady of Consolation of Parkesburg. [2] The church with its adjoining cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1985. [1]
The church is remarkable for its simplicity, resembling a Quaker meeting house more than a Catholic parish church. It is a rectangular one story stone stucco-covered building.
The church has never had a resident priest, remaining a mission since its founding. Early services were conducted by visiting missionaries. In 1840 it became a mission church of St. Agnes Church in West Chester according to the NRHP nomination form. [2] Later it was a mission of parishes in Parkesburg and Coatesville. [3] [2]
The congregation was founded in the eighteenth century. The earliest standing tombstone bears the date 1771 and marks the grave of Thomas Maguire. [3] The land was donated to the church in 1794 by Andrew Maguire. An attempt to build a church started in 1800. The building was completed in 1838 next to the cemetery on the Maguire farm. John Ferron, owner of the NRHP-listed John Ferron House, was the carpenter for the church. Henry Ferron and the Maguire family were the stone masons. [2] [4]
Major improvements were made to the building in 1865, and again in 1937, in preparation for the church's centennial. [2] Electricity and central heating were installed sometime after 1973. In the early 1990s major roof repairs were made, air conditioning was added and a port-a-potty was brought in. Indoor plumbing was added later. [3]
The first mass was celebrated on January 1, 1839 by Father James A. Miller. The first pastor, Father Bernard McCabe, was soon appointed and he also served missions in Coatesville, about seven miles north of the church, and Parkesburg, about eight miles northwest. The first confirmation was conferred in 1843 by Bishop Francis Kenrick. St. John Neumann conferred another confirmation in 1854. In 1853 the Seven Dolors church, now Our Lady of Consolation, was built in Parkesburg, and St. Malachi became a mission of Seven Dolors. Between 1871 and 1902 both Seven Dolors and St. Malachi were missions of St. Cecilia’s in Coatesville. In 1902 Seven Dolors again became a self-supporting parish and served the mission of St. Malachi. [3]
Services at St. Malachi had been celebrated irregularly in the 1930s and 1940s and starting in 1952 were scheduled only three or four times annually. Starting in 1963 services were scheduled monthly and beginning in 1973, weekly. [3]
The church is unusual in Chester County, an early stronghold of Quakerism in the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania. Irish had settled in the area before 1730, but they were Presbyterians and Quakers. About 1730 Presbyterians established a well-known church and religious school at Faggs Manor about five miles southwest of St. Malachi. In 1757 there were only 55 Irish Catholics (32 male, 23 female) counted in Chester County. [5] [2]
Chester County, colloquially known as Chesco, is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 534,413, increasing by 7.1% from 498,886 in 2010. The county seat and most populated municipality is West Chester. Chester County was one of the three original Pennsylvania counties created by William Penn in 1682. It was named for Chester, England.
Atglen is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. According to the 2020 Census, its population is 1,311.
Brandywine Creek is a tributary of the Christina River in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware in the United States. The Lower Brandywine is 20.4 miles (32.8 km) long and is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River with several tributary streams. The East Branch and West Branch of the creek originate within 2 miles (3 km) of each other on the slopes of Welsh Mountain in Honey Brook Township, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of their confluence.
Ercildoun, population about 100, is an unincorporated community in East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The hamlet was founded by Quakers and was an early center of the abolitionist movement. In 1985 the entire hamlet, including 31 properties, was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Of these properties two were vacant land, 14 were significant buildings, ten were contributing buildings, and five buildings, built in the 1950s, were non-contributing. The Lukens Pierce House, an octagon house listed separately on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, is located about half a mile northwest of the hamlet. Ercildoun is one of about ten hamlets in the township, which has no cities or towns, but has 31 sites listed on the National Register. It is one of the larger hamlets, located near the center of the township, and historically among the best known. The city of Coatesville is about 3 miles north.
Caln Meeting House is a historic Quaker meeting house located at 901 Caln Meeting House Road, near Coatesville in Caln Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1726, and is a one-story, tan fieldstone structure. It was enlarged to its present size in 1801.
Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house at 1245 Birmingham Road in Birmingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The current meetinghouse was built in 1763. The building and the adjacent cemetery were near the center of fighting on the afternoon of September 11, 1777 at the Battle of Brandywine. Worship services are held weekly at 10am. The meetinghouse and adjacent octagonal schoolhouse were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse and School on July 27, 1971.
Bradford Friends Meetinghouse, also known as Marshallton Meeting House, is a historic Quaker meeting house located at Marshallton in West Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1764–1765, and is a one-story, stone structure with a gable roof. A porch was added to two sides of the building in the 19th century. The interior is divided into four rooms, rather than the customary two. Abraham Marshall, father of botanist Humphry Marshall was instrumental in the establishment of the meeting in the 1720s. The meeting originally met from 1722 to 1727 at the Marshall home, Derbydown Homestead, from 1722 to 1727.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Exton, also known as St. Paul's Church, is a historic church at 1105 E. Lincoln Highway in Exton, Pennsylvania in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the area known as the Great Valley. It was built in 1828 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 as St. Paul's Church. It is one of the 155 parish churches of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.
Primitive Hall is a brick house built in 1738 in rural Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States, by Joseph Pennock. The house was occupied by his descendants until 1960, when it was donated to and restored by a foundation controlled by his descendants. The house was listed by the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Rebecca Lukens (1794–1854), born Rebecca Webb Pennock, was an American businesswoman. She was the owner and manager of the iron and steel mill which became the Lukens Steel Company of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Fortune Magazine called her "America's first female CEO of an industrial company" and its board of editors named her to the National Business Hall of Fame in 1994.
The Ivy Mills Historic District is a national historic district located in Concord Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It encompasses the ruins of a paper mill, a clerk's house, and the Ivy Mills Mansion House. The mansion house is a 2 1/2-story, five bay wide, stuccoed masonry structure, which includes a saltbox wing and a wide verandah. The original paper mill was erected in 1729, and the original mansion house in 1744. Both of the original buildings were replaced in the early-19th century by the present buildings.
Upper Roxborough Historic District is a national historic district located in Philadelphia and Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It encompasses 108 contributing buildings, 23 contributing sites, and 18 contributing structures in Upper Roxborough. The district includes a number of small scale farm and industrial workers' housing, estate houses, mill-owners' dwellings, and farm buildings. Notable buildings include the Shawmont Railroad Station (1834), Miquon Station designed by Frank Furness (1910), Riverside Paper Mills, Hagy's Mill ruin, St. Mary's Church, and "Fairview" and other buildings on the grounds of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. The Roxborough Pumping Station was also part of the district, but it was demolished in 2011 after sitting abandoned for over fifty years.
West Chester Downtown Historic District is a national historic district located in West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It encompasses 3,137 contributing buildings in West Chester. It includes residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings built between 1789 and the 1930s. Notable buildings include the U.S. Post Office, Green Tree Building (1933), St. Agnes Church (1851), Biddle Street School (1917), Major Groff Memorial Armory, Horticulture Building (1848) designed by Thomas U. Walter, Denney-Reyburn factory, Caleb Taylor Store, Federal Ehne's Bakery, Kofke's Store, and Woolworth (1928). Also listed and located in the district are the Bank of Chester County, Buckwalter Building, Chester County Courthouse, Farmers and Mechanics Building, and Warner Theater.
Lukens Main Office Building is a historic office building located at Coatesville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA. The original section was designed by the architectural firm of Cope & Stewardson and built in 1902, for the Lukens Steel Company. It is a 2½-story, seven bay, brick "T"-shaped building in a Colonial Revival / Georgian Revival style. It has a hipped roof with dormers and flanking two-story, three bay wings. A duplicate of the original structure was added to it in 1916, making it an "H"-shaped building. The addition was designed by the successor firm of Page & Stewardson. Today the building is home to the National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum and other local businesses and organizations.
National Bank of Coatesville Building, also known as the Industrial Valley Bank Building, is a historic bank building located at Coatesville, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was built between 1906 and 1908, and is a four-story, steel-frame structure faced in buff-colored brick and Indiana Limestone in an eclectic Late Victorian style. It measures 70 feet by 140 feet, and is trimmed in terra cotta and Indiana limestone. It features a clock tower with rounded dome framing. In addition to the bank, the building once housed the post office. The building has been converted to apartments.
Abram Huston House and Carriage House, also known as the Coatesville City Hall and Police Station and "Graystone Mansion," is a historic building located at Coatesville, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was designed and built in 1889, by the architectural firm of Cope & Stewardson. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story building, built of shaped coursed stone, irregularly shaped in plan, and has a two-story wing added in 1925. The carriage house is "L" shaped, and features a two-story tower with a conical roof. The house was built as the home of Abram Huston, president of the Lukens Steel Company. The house was Coatesville City Hall and the carriage house was the Coatesville jail from 1939 to 1992.
Parkesburg National Bank is a historic bank building located at Parkesburg, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections; the older dating to 1883 and the second from about 1900. Both are three-story, brick structures on banked basements. The older section has a patterned slate mansard roof with rounded dormer windows in the Second Empire style. The addition is faced in concrete, with floral patterns, a lion's head, and the bank's insignia. It is generally in the Classical Revival style. The building has been converted to apartments.
Parkesburg School is a historic school building located at Parkesburg, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was built in three sections; the oldest dating to 1899–1900, with additions made in 1916 and 1958–1959. The oldest section is a two-story, rectangular brick building in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It is nine bays by four bays and has a dual pitched hipped roof. The 1916 addition is two stories and in the Colonial Revival style. The 1958–1959 addition is a one-story, rectangular brick structure attached to the main building by a narrow ell-shaped connector wing. It has been converted into a retirement home.
John Ferron House is a historic home located in Londonderry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It is located opposite St. Malachi Church, and was the property of the church's builder / carpenter John Ferron. It was built about 1838, and is a two-story, two bay, banked stone dwelling with a gable roof. It has a shed roofed frame addition. Also on the property is a contributing root cellar with an arched brick entry.