11/05/2020
57 years ago today my grandparents’ wedding in the old Saint John Church on Atwells. It was the first church on the avenue, constructed in 1871 for Irish inhabitants of the Federal Hill area, a mission church of Saint Mary on Broadway. It was the largest holding capacity church in the diocese at the time, seating over 1,600. In the beginning Italians were barred from the church and forced to construct Holy Ghost and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, two Italian National Parishes. In the 1930’s Saint John’s became a primarily Italian parish, up until the 1980s it was a vibrant Italo American neighborhood church. In the late 80’s a Spanish mass was added for the growing number of Latinos inhabiting the area, the church fell in to disrepair and was forced to close in the spring of 1992, 121 years after its founding. Mayor Cianci fought to preserve the church and create an open air market, garden and concert space within the walls of the old church, however there was no funding for the multimillion dollar project, in the mid 90’s the church caught fire and was later demolished, today the plaza remains to preserve the memory of what was.
