This week's "Turnback Tuesday" features a postcard showing St. Mary's Church and its old school and convent. St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church of Derby is the mother of Catholicism in the Valley.
The church was erected in 1845 on a spacious lot donated by Anson Phelps for the Catholic people of Birmingham. It was enlarged several times and the cornerstone of the present church building was laid on June 25, 1882 by the late Bishop McMahon.
The parish was originally composed of those from Derby, Ansonia, Huntington and Seymour. A parochial school was first established in the basement of the church in 1885.
Under the pastorate of Rev. Charles McElroy, a school building was built in 1898 and a convent for the Sisters of Mercy was erected in 1904 next to the church on Elizabeth Street to the corner of Cottage Street.
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Plunkett, appointed pastor of St. Mary’s in 1932, purchased the Fitch property on Seymour Avenue for future use. It is now home to St. Mary-St. Michael Elementary School, while the old school and convent were demolished in the early 1970s.
[First posted on this date in 2016.]
Thanks goes to the Derby Public Library staff for sharing interesting local history each week.
