St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church
Back in April, I began an exploration of the Anne Street Historic District with some buildings along the southern end of the district, a.k.a. Pearl Street. There are many stories doors in this western edge of downtown Hartford, but today’s will all come from one building. That building is St. Patrick and St. Anthony Church, a Cathedral-style Church located at the north end of Church Street, well, the north end before Interstate 84 cuts Hartford into two land masses.
St. Patrick’s is the oldest Roman Catholic church in the state of Connecticut. Located in downtown Hartford, the church serves an urban mission. According to the website:
“as a community of faith in service to the Archdiocese of Hartford and responding to the priorities of Holy Name Province, we welcome and extend hospitality to all people, especially the alienated and the poor.”
While St. Patrick’s is the oldest Catholic church today, it wasn’t the first Catholic church in Connecticut. That was the Holy Trinity Church. Holy Trinity was founded in 1829 to serve the thousands of Irish immigrants in the Hartford area. 20 years later, Holy Trinity had grown beyond its capacity. In 1850, they began building St. Patrick’s. The history from Holy Trinity to St. Patrick’s – St. Anthony, is a complicated involving fire, flood and shifting populations.
First, Holy Trinity burned in 1853. During that fire, most of the documents containing the church’s history were lost. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the last time fire played a role in the history of this church. St. Patrick’s was consumed by fire in 1875 – the parish rebuilt the church on the same site. In 1956, the church was once again gutted by fire, and once again, the parish rebuilt, this time, within the walls of the original building.
Meanwhile, over on the east side of Hartford, the Italian immigrants were establishing their own parish. In 1895, an Episcopal Church located four blocks from St. Patrick’s on Market Street would become a St. Anthony’s parish’s first home. In 1921, St. Anthony’s had built a new parish around the corner from their temporary home.
While St. Patrick’s was fighting fires, St. Anthony’s was fighting water. The church was severely damaged in a terrible flood in 1936, and again in a flood resulting from the 1938 hurricane. That hurricane was the worst one that ever struck Connecticut and, apparently occurred before they started giving those things names.
While the two strong and spirited parishes survived fire and flood, they could not survive the migration of their parishioners to the suburbs after WWII. Again, from the combined church’s website:
“In 1957, Archbishop Henry O’Brien proposed the merger of the two parishes. As St. Anthony Parish disappeared in the dust of urban renewal, its parishioners and programs moved to St. Patrick’s and on October 25, 1958, St. Patrick-St. Anthony Parish became official. It was this new infusion of parishioners and their generosity that was largely responsible for the rebuilding of the church after the disastrous 1956 fire.”
Of course, this post is part of Norm Frampton’s brilliant series – Thursday Doors. While the history of this/these churches is fascinating, the doors are amazing.
Every week, Norm gives us the opportunity to share interesting doors. If you want to play along, grab a door, head on over to Norm’s place and click the blue frog. Yes, the blue frog. But, before clicking on the tadpole, take a look at Norm’s doors. They are always worth a view. If you want to start a slideshow in this gallery, click on any image.
Love the bells between the doors! :-)
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I tried to find out more about the bells, but I came up empty. the church is now run by the Franciscan’s and I think the bells have something to do with their community outreach program.
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I’d be tempted to give them a little ‘ting’ every time I walked past, just to see how they sound!
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I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens fairly frequently :)
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I LOVE history of churchs and/or the diocese.
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I do too. It’s funny, I thought this would be a simple story. Find out when the place was built and move on. Nope. This church has a complicated history. The Pearl Street post includes the doors of a Synagogue, that was also torn down in Hartford’s questionable attempt at urban renewal. It was on the same street as St. Anthony’s. In many ways, I’m guessing the city planners would rather have have the land these historic churches occupy be the places being developed today.
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A simply magnificent edifice. It does look very Irish in style. The doors are great but I also love the sloping outdoor walkway and stairs. The stonework is beautiful.
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Thanks Cheryl. I love the stonework. I would have liked to have been able to walk down into the gardens, but I was there very early, and everything was locked up tight.
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Too bad Dan. That would have been nice.
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The front entrance is stunning. I mean, that’s just as detailed as it can be. Beautiful facade. The stonework alone is impressive in its detail. Especially noticeable in the shots with the outer halls and stairs. I’m sorry about the dumpsters, but I appreciate your thorough exploration. Great doors! :)
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Thanks. It’s amazing to see all the detail and work that went into the lower level. Many parishes would have built that out of cheaper material and either filled in or built up around it. It’s built like a castle. I was tempted to try to move the dumpsters, but you know Norm’s position on bail…
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I do. Bail is unreasonably high for misdemeanors these days, and I’m sure even higher in Connecticut!
It does have a castle look, mmhm.
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Gorgeous building, Dan. I thought you caught the sun shining on the windows, but I see the gold shine is part of the decoration over the door. Too bad the fire and water couldn’t have cancelled one another out.
janet
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Thanks Janet. Seriously, can you imagine being in the parish that was destroyed by flood and them moving to one that was gutted by fire. I think I’d have to start wondering my standing with the Almighty.
The pictures are from two different days. I was planning to only use the front shot, the one that looks like light, but when I walked by and saw all the other doors, I knew I had to break this place out of the neighborhood.
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Terrific photos with their history attached – great work as always, Dan!!
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Thanks. This one surprised me with its history. I guess it’s like a book, you can’t tell just by looking at it.
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That’s why I’m always telling people they need to look at all sides to a story – sometimes you can really be surprised at what you find!!
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So true!
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I, too, want to know about the bells! First time visiting, and I will be back.
Love your About Dan blurb1!
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Thanks Jackie! I have a draft of an “updates” post. Maybe I’ll do a little more research on this and add it to that list.
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Beautiful church, Dan. I love all the different stairwells and gates to the gardens.
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Thanks Lois. That was my favorite part. It just makes the building so much more interesting.
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Perseverance through so much adversity has to be admired. That front certainly has the look of a castle what with all the stonework and detail, and oh those doors are gorgeous :-)
The bells were an interesting addition – very pretty.
Excellent post Dan.
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Thanks Norm. I’m sure you know how it goes when you think you have a simple “go get a picture of that door” task and it turns into “so many doors…” But, I love the building, so it’s a good thing. I told Joey that I was going to try to move the dumpsters, but I remembered your position on bail :-)
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What a beautiful church — those front doors are incredible! It’s always kind of amazing to see such an ancient looking building smack dab in the middle of a modern city street.
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Thanks Wendy. The funny thing is, the street where St Anthony’s church was, is now the less desirable street to be on. This area is turning into prime real estate, and it’s home to several historic buildings.
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Ah, there’s nothing like the sight of a beautiful old church in the middle of a modern city — a reminder of what once was and always will be. Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York — so many cities along the east coast boast churches like the ones shown here. I hope they’ll always be there, drawing us closer to what is eternal, and reminding us that some things never change. Terrific pics, Dan.
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Thanks Paul. I agree that these churches should stand as an example that this country and its cites were founded for more than commerce. Hartford has several of these remarkable old churches. I didn’t know about the long and convoluted history of this parish, but it was very interesting reading.
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That is a gorgeous church (and garden) and I think the bell tower adds a cool, modern touch to an old building. You are right…the history of the two-now-one churches is complicated and wrought with too many disasters. But I love how hope and faith were never lost and the two churches became one in order to serve the congregation and community.
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Thanks Mary. Complicated, but, at least for now, it has a happy and a hopeful ending. The community outreach is more important today than ever, it seems. It’s less about how they got here, and more about what they are doing. That seems to be a good story.
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Back in the old days, the first question a real estate agent would ask was, “what church do you go to?” It would tell him (always a him) what religion, ethnic group and social class you belonged to…and therefore what neighborhood you “belonged in”.
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That’s true! They, along with the banks, were instrumental in drawing the lines that formed the neighborhoods, well up into the 80s around here.
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Kept looking at the first church for some time, because somehow it looked different from the Gothic style churches in continental W.- Europe. My guess is I’m used to grey-ish stone, that make it look so different. Love all the rosette windows!
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I do like the details in and around the windows. I took a few photos that featured the windows, but I decide to leave them out, because the gallery was stuffed to the gills.
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Oh, too bad. Does your blog theme restrict the area for photos?
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No, but it can’t show anything other than full length posts.
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Beautiful, Dan
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Thanks John. I got sucked into this one.
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ha ha ha.
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A beautiful church, Dan. I remember seeing it during my Hartford days but never looking closely. Thanks for the interesting history. Great photos.
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It’s funny, I’ve driven by, hundreds of times, but from the street, you can’t see the detail in those lower-level gardens. Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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Handsome all around – great red doors AND bells. I love the history of how groups established a church in their settled area so they could worship together. On the flip side, the change in demographics is as hard on a church as it is on residential areas, stores, and malls. The Catholic Church I grew up in and was married in was built in 1824 and is now permanently closed. It is like a large cemetery marker. The history is amazing but the reality of change not so much. :-)
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It is hard. They are merging a large number of churches here. I don’t know what the result will be. I worry about the church we were raised in. It has a very small congregation and it’s pretty old.
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Btw, in trying to learn more about the bells. It seems like there must be a story there.
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Magnificent! What a wonderful collection of doors, stairways, gardens, arches, stonework, and ALL! A real treasure trove. Thanks, Dan!
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Thanks! That sounds like what I was thinking as I walked around.
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I LOVE the uniqueness of that front entrance. Obviously this was designed by someone who really appreciated doors.
… but the dumpsters?! What were they thinking by blocking those beautiful doors behind them.
Someone need to be seriously chastised for their door *abuse*.
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The doors are beautiful and I love the fact that they spared no expense, even on the lower levels. As for the dumpsters, I think they owe us a few Hail Marys. I don’t know why they would block a door, anyway. I mean I assume it’s functional.
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Good point. Blocking a doorway is a fire hazard! I think they owe us an entire rosary ;)
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Ha ha – I hadn’t thought of the fire hazard. I was just going to ask Norm to issue a citation.
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I probably missed it in the past but the slide show is a great way to admire your photos. In terms of gates I love anything red and small gates leading to a garden. So I love a few of them today :)
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Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed this. I like using the gallery so people who want to explore can, but if people are in a hurry they can glance at them quickly. I really liked the gates to the garden.
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I think it’s a great idea. I just hope that people double click on the photos because it’s worth admiring some of them.
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Thanks. I’ve gotten several positive comments over time.
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The history on its own is stunning. The first set of doors are beautiful. And they’re side doors. Love it
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Thanks Audrey, I’m glad you liked this. I had driven by this church for years, but mostly across the front and you can’t see the side gardens or doors unless you’re walking by,
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Beautiful church. The tower of bells is something I have never seen. Too many fires!
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Thanks. I’m trying to find out more about the bells.
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Makes my church doors cry. They are pitiful in comparison, but 200 years old and full of memories of my wedding day and the multiple baptisms that followed.
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The church doors at the church I was raised in have a crummy look, but a great feel.
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The feeling is more important.
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The garden and outdoor hallways/architecture are lovely, but the front entrance doors are gorgeous.
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Thank you Deborah. It was a surprising building. So many facets.
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It is a jewel of a find and subject for Thursday Doors.
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Pingback: Not as Sweet as it Seems/#Thursday Doors – Tropical Affair
The 1938 hurricane changed the property lines of my grandparent’s property in Monson Mass (they lived along a creek). I’ve heard a lot about it.
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That was a nasty storm. Strengthened by the warm CT River water, I think that’s the hurricane that made it into Canada.
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The creek that flooded by grandparent’s property was fed by a large reservoir up near Three Rivers – Quabog, I think – which overflowed.
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Wow. For a creek to do that kind of damage, there had to be a lot of water.
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Fire’s and floods, wow. Thankfully the community preserved that lovely old building, Dan. I wonder was it candles that started those fires.
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In the 1800s, it was usually the heating system that caused the fires. In the 1950s, its anybody’s guess.
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Reblogged this on Ancien Hippie.
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Oh, my, this is one amazing front entrance! :o
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Thank you. I do think they did a wonderful job.
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The oldest Catholic Church in all of Connecticut is gorgeous, Dan!
I love the red doors especially in this brick red tone or burgundy wine color. It is so rare to see bells like these golden brass (?) so clearly!
My local Catholic Church rings them on Sunday and then every day at noon, I believe. St. Anthony’s is a wonderful and stately building.
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Thanks Robin. I’m trying to find more info on the bells. Being such a recent addition, I’m sure there is a story.
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To add one more detail to my comments, I am not sure what you would call the design with the cross and the petals bit I am labeling it a floret. It was very prominent in this post.
Felicia attended the Franciscan University of Dayton, (Go Dayton Flyer’s!!) The university requires every year active participation in philanthropic projects.
Getting the college kids to go beyond partying, Felicia went to Head Start in the downtown Dayton area freshman year, served as a GED tutor at the local women’s penitentiary sophomore year and her Jr and Sr years, as a March of Dimes part of their marketing Dept. I wish all colleges would try this! :)
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She did a very good thing. This church and its community outreach center is now run by the Franciscans.
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As always you did a wonderful job with Thursday Doors including history and images. I liked the bell tower that adds to the entire architecture.
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I need to find out more about those bells.
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