(Roman Catholic) 57-15 61st Street at Maspeth Avenue Maspeth (Queens), N.Y. 11378 http://ststanstrans.org/
There were a number of Catholic families among the farmers and dairymen who had settled in Maspeth some 200 years ago, but it wasn’t until 1854, when St, Mary’s was established in neighboring Winfield, that they were able to attend Mass regularly. Fifteen years later, St. Mary’s pastor, Father Ignatius Zeller, visited Maspeth weekly to celebrate Sunday Mass in a local storefront. The community was growing rapidly – and its Catholic population along with it. In 1872, Bishop Loughlin dedicated a new church under the patronage of St. Stanislaus Koskta, on Perry Avenue, and began serving the five hundred Catholic families in Maspeth and nearby communities. For six months the new church was a mission of St. Mary’s, but in June 1872 reverend John McElhenny became the first pastor. He was succeeded by Fathers Molloy, Baxter and Malone, and in 1882 Father Pauletigi began his pastorate which would last for sixteen years. Father Murray was pastor for two years, and then at the beginning of the Twentieth Century Rev. Joseph A, Bennet came to St. Stanislaus to being his quarter century leadership. The community and the parish were growing in light manufacturing and other businesses began in the area and homes wer being built by people who worked “in the city” and became what we now call “commuters.” New immigrants from various parts of Europe were also finding their way to Maspeth. By the time World War I ended, Fr. Bennett knew he needed to build a larger church and began plans for a new church and rectory, with a school and convent to follow in the future. The land, on Clermont (61st Street and Maspeth Avenues, was purchased in 1920. The site was the former Quaker cemetery dating back to the earliest settlers. Maspeth’s Catholics and non-Catholics alike participated in the fundraising campaign – chiefly the “selling” of bricks at ten cents each – and the cornerstone was laid in 1923. The beautiful combination church and rectory was dedicated in 1925 by the Most Reverend Thomas E. Molloy, Bishop of Brooklyn. The church was not fully completed when Fr. Bennett died in 1926. The impressive marble altar from Italy was donated in his memory by his family; the lovely stained glass windows were donated by parishioners and church societies In Fr. Bennett’s memory, the people of St Saviour’s Episcopal Church, whose pastor, Fr, Frederick S. Griffin, was a close friend of Fr. Bennett’s , erected the original Stature of the Blessed Mother in the rectory yard, facing toward St. Savior’s. Fr. Joseph A. Bennett was succeeded by his brother, Fr. James J. Bennett. The Parish, which had long ago begun to be called “Fr. Bennett’s Church,” would now continue to be know by that name for many years to come. Fr. James Bennett came to Maspeth with a background of building
and expanding parishes, both spiritually and physically. He completed
the building of St. Stanislaus Church begun by his brother, remodeled
the Perry Avenue building as a parish hall, and began the parish
school. Despite the Depression, the school was fully operational
by February 1934, with the first floor used as the school, and
the upper floor classrooms serving as the convent for the teaching
Sister of St. Joseph until the convent was built in 1938. |
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