St. Mary's Catholic Church (Winchester, Massachusetts) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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St. Mary's Catholic Church
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | Winchester, Massachusetts |
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| Built | 1876 |
| Architect | Ford, Patrick W. |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| MPS | Winchester MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 89000625 |
| Added to NRHP | July 5, 1989 |
St. Mary's Catholic Church is a special church in Winchester, Massachusetts. It's part of the Catholic Church in the Boston area. This church building, located at 159 Washington Street, is very old and important. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. This shows its big role for the local Irish Catholic community. The church also runs St. Mary's Early Learning Center. This is a preschool and kindergarten, which used to be St. Mary's School until 2020.
Contents
The Church Building
St. Mary's Church is found at the corner of Washington and Bridge Streets. This is just northeast of Winchester's town center. The church building was built in 1876. It replaced an earlier chapel built on the same spot in 1874. This area was a growing home for Irish-American families at that time.
Design and Style
The church was first made of wood. But it had big changes in 1897. Architect Patrick W. Ford led these updates. He was famous for designing churches in the area. During these changes, the church was covered in brick. It looks like older churches from New England's Federal period. The main part of the church, called the nave, runs parallel to the roof.
The building has many fancy decorations. It has special brickwork called corbelled cornices. It also has decorative buttresses, which are supports on the outside walls. The church has a square tower on its northwest corner. This tower has a Gothic-arched entrance. It also has a bell tower with louvered, Gothic-arched windows. A small room for baptisms and meetings was added around 1900. This room was first meant to hold a library. It stands just south of the main church building.
History of St. Mary's
The story of St. Mary's Church began in the 1840s. Jerome B. Judkins, an important early resident, moved to what became Winchester. He bought a lot of land from an old farm. His house later became the rectory, a home for priests. It also served as a convent for nuns and a community center for the Catholic people.
Early Days and Growth
A small wooden chapel was built around 1874. This was the first permanent Catholic place of worship in Winchester. It was a "mission church" connected to St. Charles Borromeo parish in Woburn, Massachusetts. St. Mary's became its own independent parish in 1876. Rev. Cornelius O'Connor was the first priest in charge. He had the chapel made bigger. He also lived near Bridge and Washington Streets.
In 1882, the next priest, Rev. Patrick J. Daly, made the church even larger. He also had the tower built. By 1888, the church bought more land, including where the school is today. In 1894, beautiful stained-glass windows, an organ, and a parish library were added. The outside of the church was covered in brick in 1896–97. This work was done by Boston architect P. W. Ford.
St. Mary's School
St. Mary's School opened in October 1914. The archbishop, William Cardinal O'Connell, blessed it. Nuns from the Sisters of St. Joseph taught at the school until 1973. Due to fewer students and challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, grades one through five closed in 2020. Since then, the school has been a preschool and kindergarten. St. Mary's also had a high school for girls from 1922 to 1950.
Parish Changes
In the 1990s, there were plans for Winchester's Catholic churches to work more closely together. This was because fewer priests were expected. In May 2004, Archbishop O'Malley announced that 65 parishes in the area would close. St. Joseph's and Immaculate Conception churches then joined with St. Mary's parish. St. Mary's also shares a priest with nearby St. Eulalia Church in Winchester.
See also
