St. Brigid's Roman Catholic Church
121 Avenue B | East Village | built 1900
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1849
Bishop John Hughes dedicates a new church built by Irish shipwrights
Rev. Richard Kein organizes the parish in 1847, and construction begins in 1848 on a church designed by 25-year-old architect Patrick Keely, who carves the Gothic reredos himself. Irish shipwrights from the East River boatyards build it for immigrants fleeing the Great Famine. Bishop John Hughes dedicates the church on December 2, 1849.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1853
Father Thomas Mooney becomes pastor and later serves as chaplain to the 'Fighting 69th'
Rev. Thomas J. Mooney is appointed pastor in 1853. He also serves as chaplain to the 69th New York State Militia, the Irish regiment later known as the "Fighting 69th," holding daily Masses and hearing confessions for its mostly Catholic soldiers. He is also praised for founding a temperance society.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1988
The church lets protesters organize inside during the Tompkins Square Park riot
During the 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot, St. Brigid's lets homeless advocates and protesters gather under its roof, and it serves as a place to organize and receive medical attention. A year later, pastor Rev. George Kuhn is arrested for crossing a police line to bring food to people in an abandoned school on East 4th Street.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2006
A judge halts the Archdiocese's demolition of the closed church
The church closes in September 2004, and demolition begins in 2006, with a hole knocked in the rear wall and damage to the interior and a stained glass window. Judge Barbara Kapnick extends an order staying the demolition on August 24, 2006, while she hears a suit over whether the Archdiocese had the right to tear the building down.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2013
Cardinal Dolan consecrates the restored church, and the parish merges with St. Emeric
In 2008 an anonymous donor gives the Archdiocese $20 million, including $10 million to restore the church. Cardinal Timothy Dolan consecrates the renovated building on January 27, 2013. St. Emeric Church on Avenue D closes that year, and the parish becomes St. Brigid-St. Emeric.
Source: Wikipedia
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