St. Patrick's Church (Lowell, Massachusetts)

	St. Patrick's Church
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	St. Patrick's, front view (2012)
Location	284 Suffolk St.; Lowell, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°38′43.05″N71°19′7.1″W / 42.6452917°N 71.318639°W Coordinates: 42°38′43.05″N71°19′7.1″W / 42.6452917°N 71.318639°W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1853
Architect	Patrick C. Keely
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.	85000027
Added to NRHP	January 3, 1985

Last updated March 03, 2021

St. Patrick's Church is a historic Roman Catholic church at 284 Suffolk Street in Lowell, Massachusetts. Built in 1853 for a predominantly Irish congregation founded in 1831, it is one of the oldest Catholic parishes north of Boston in the United States.^[2] The building, a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture designed by the noted ecclesiastical architect Patrick C. Keely,^[3] was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.^[1]

History

The original Saint Patrick's church was a wooden structure,^[4] built in 1831 to support the Irish workmen who had moved to Lowell, largely to work on the Pawtucket and Merrimack Canals. Prior to its construction, they were attended by Rev. John Mahoney, a Catholic clergyman from a nearby town. By 1830 there were over 400 Roman Catholics in Lowell, and on July 3, 1831, St Patrick's Church was consecrated, led by Mahoney. Mahoney left in 1836 to work in Boston, and was succeeded by E.J. McCool.^[5]

The current stone structure dates to 1853, although a fire in 1904 caused much of the church to be rebuilt by 1906.^[6]

Today

Today, the church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to the traditional Irish and French Canadian congregations, the parish, including its school, serves local Southeast Asians, specifically with Vietnamese and Cambodian native-language Masses.

Architecture

St. Patrick's is located on the eastern edge of the Lowell neighborhood known as The Acre, an area where Irish immigrants originally settled in squatters' camps to work in Lowell's mills. The church overlooks one the city's power canals, at the junction of Suffolk and Cross Streets. It is built in a cruciform plan out of coursed rubblestone with ashlar granite trim. A tower 160 feet (49 m) in height projects from the front facade, with stone buttresses flanking the main church entrance at its base. The entrance, as well as flanking entrances on either side, are set in Gothic lancet-arched openings. Above the main entrance is a three-part lancet-arched window, with the tall first stage of the tower completed by a smaller lancet window. The second tower stage houses a belfry with louvered lancet-arch openings, and it is topped by an octagonal steeple ornamented with lancet dormers.^[3]

Gallery

The church's nave and altar.
detail.
Saint Patrick Teaching the Chieftains at Tara stained glass window above main entrance.
Memorial to Reverends O'Brien immediately outside main entrance.
The church rectory.

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References

1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
↑ Parish Online. "St Patrick Parish". Parish Online. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
1 2 "NRHP nomination for St. Patrick's Church". National Archive. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
↑ Eno 1976, p. 195.
↑ Citizen-Courier Company 1897, p. 718.
↑ Forgotten New England. "The Grand Fires of 1904 – Lowell, Massachusetts and Fire's Constant Threat". Forgotten New England. Retrieved 15 January 2013.

Bibliography

Citizen-Courier Company (1897). Illustrated History of Lowell and Vicinity: Massachusetts. Higginson Book Company.
Eno, Arthur (1976). Cotton Was King: a History of Lowell, Massachusetts. New Hampshire Publishing Society. ISBN 0912274611.

External links

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[nris-1] 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.

[2] Parish Online. "St Patrick Parish". Parish Online. Retrieved 15 January 2013.

[NRHP-3] 1 2 "NRHP nomination for St. Patrick's Church". National Archive. Retrieved 2017-10-03.

[FOOTNOTEEno1976195-4] Eno 1976, p. 195.

[FOOTNOTECitizen-Courier_Company1897718-5] Citizen-Courier Company 1897, p. 718.

[6] Forgotten New England. "The Grand Fires of 1904 – Lowell, Massachusetts and Fire's Constant Threat". Forgotten New England. Retrieved 15 January 2013.

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