The first St. Patrick’s Church, serving the Irish-Catholic population of Hartford, was dedicated on Church Street in 1851, but was destroyed by fire in 1874. It was replaced by the current quarry-faced brownstone church, completed in 1876. A fire in 1956 gutted the interior of the church, which was restored, but the steeple was removed during the reconstruction. In 1958, St. Anthony’s Parish, dedicated in 1898, merged with St. Patrick’s Parish. St. Anthony’s had served the Italian community of Front Street, a neighborhood that had been demolished for the construction of Constitution Plaza. In 1990, the Franciscan Friars took over the leadership for the ministries of St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church and established the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry. In 2000, new facilities for the Center were constructed on the grounds of the church.
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