Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Catholic

St. Michael Church, Beacon Falls (1942)

St. Michael Catholic Church in Beacon Falls began in 1885 as a mission of St. Augustine Church in Seymour and became a parish in 1924. The first St. Michael’s Church in Beacon Falls, erected at the corner of Church and Main Streets, was dedicated on March 11, 1900. The property was sold to the state of Connecticut for highway construction and the cornerstone of the current church was blessed on October 12, 1941. The church’s first Mass was celebrated on on June 26, 1942. The interior remained unfinished for many years due to wartime austerity, but the completed church was eventually dedicated on June 24, 1956.

St. Casimir Church, Terryville (1907)

Polish immigrants settled in Terryville in significant numbers in the 1890s. At first they worshiped at Immaculate Conception Church, but in December 1900 the St. Casimir Society, a Polish fraternal organization, was formed and soon purchased land for a Polish Catholic church on Allen Street in Terryville. St. Casimir Church, 17 Allen Street, was dedicated on September 1, 1907. Since 1999 the two parishes of Immaculate Conception and Saint Casimir have been linked.

St. Anthony Church, Prospect (1962)

In 1936 a mission of St. Mary’s Parish, Union City was established in Prospect. St. Anthony Chapel, on Route 69, was dedicated in 1939. The mission became a St. Anthony Parish in 1943 and on October 20, 1962 a new St. Anthony Church was dedicated at 4 Union City Road.

St. Paul Catholic Church, Kensington (1914)

To serve the Irish community in Kensington (in Berlin), Father Luke Daly of New Britain acquired land on Main Street for a church in 1873. Construction began in October of 1878 and the unfinished church was dedicated in May 1879. St. Paul’s became a full parish two years later. A suspicious fire destroyed St. Paul Church on March 5, 1913. Construction soon began on the current church, at Alling and Peck Streets. The cornerstone was blessed on November 2, 1913 and the church was dedicated on May 24, 1914. According to the Hartford Courant (“Bishop Dedicates Kensington Church,” March 25, 1814):

The edifice itself was built of red brick with Kentucky limestone cornices. The roof is Spanish tile. The architecture is English Gothic with a hint of Spanish mission in the tower. There are three porticos.

St. Mary Church, Union City (1923)

The first Catholic parish in Union City in Naugatuck began as mission of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Naugatuck, becoming St. Mary Parish in 1907. A chapel was erected the following year and the finished St. Mary Church, located at 338 North Main Street, was dedicated on May 27, 1923. St. Hedwig Parish, Union City’s other Catholic parish, was founded by Polish immigrants in 1906. The current St. Hedwig Church and school complex on Golden Hill Street was dedicated in 1968.

St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church, Terryville (1910)

Ukrainian Catholics first settled in Terryville in Plymouth in 1895. They did come directly from Eastern Europe but initially settled in central Pennsylvania before relocating to Connecticut. They established a voluntary association called the Rus Ruthenian Brotherhood of St. Michael the Archangel in 1902. Having worshiped in New Britain from 1896 to 1904, the Archangel St. Michael Ruthenian Greek Catholic Congregation then began holding services in a school on Main Street in Terryville. The congregation acquired land on Allen Street in March 1905 on which to build their own church. The cornerstone for the new church was blessed on July 4, 1910 and St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church at 35 Allen Street was soon completed. A sacristy was added to the north side of the church in 1944.

St. Mary Church, Branford (1974)

St. Mary’s Catholic Parish in Branford traces its origins to 1855. The original church, located on Montowese Street, was built in 1854. The next church building, on Main Street across from the Blackstone Memorial Library, was completed in 1904 and burned later that same year. It was restored and rededicated on October 19, 1906. A Renaissance Revival structure, it had a 10-story bell tower. On June 18, 1972, the church was destroyed in a fire and replaced by the current church in 1974. For many years the church’s 1917 two-ton cast bronze bell, which survived the fire, sat on a concrete slab on the church grounds. In 2009 the bell was restored and placed in a new exterior bell tower. That same year the church dedicated a new 2,500 square-foot social hall.