The following historical synopsis is taken from the book “Saint Joseph Church, Oil City, Pennsylvania",Author Father Henry A Kreigel, published in 1974
The heritage of Saint Joseph Church is a rich one, in which Oil City can express a great feeling of pride. From the origins in the early days of oil continuing through present, it has stood as a symbol of man’s yearning for God. As a civic institution it has shared and participated in the growth of Oil City. As a religious institution it has brought comfort and strength to untold thousands of people. This sketch of Saint Joseph’s Church to provide an overview, gathered from historical documents is for your knowledge and enjoyment.
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Joseph Harvey
Beginning of Catholicism in Venango County
The history of Catholicism in Venango County does not begin until the 1795 when the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Treaty of Greenville that settlers could come into northwestern Pennsylvania without fear of Indian depredations. In 1800, there were 269 households in Venango County and at least three of them were Catholic families: John Henry at Henry’s Bend; Michael and Patrick McCrea at Eagle Rock; and McGarrell’s at Pithole. There is evidence that these families were not entirely without the comfort of their church. From 1794 to 1846 there were several documents of missionary priests that traveled through this area providing sacraments, receiving different persuasions into the church and saying mass in the Henry, McGarrell and Moran homes. During this time the journey from Erie to Pittsburgh could be made on public roads but these were little better than wide trails, and the distances from these points to Venango County prevented frequent visitations to the smaller number of Catholics.
In 1845 Father Andrew Skopez was appointed to Saint Michael Church in Fryburg, the needs of the Catholic families in Venango County were met with much more regularity, it is said mass was offered on a flatboat that was moored at a site now the north end of the State Street bridge. Later services were held in a building referred to as the Catholic Meeting House.
Establishment of Saint Joseph Parish
The first resident pastor Father David Snively, most likely arrived in Oil City shortly after his ordination in was in 1862. He probably established living quarters at the Moran house, and soon gathered his little congregation to hold services at the Catholic Meeting house. Whatever prompted Father Snively to choose the site on cottage hill for the new church, it was an excellent choice. Not only was it aesthetically ideal, but it also proved to be practical as it stood far enough fro the creek and river to avoid the floods that beset the city from time to time and far enough from the wooden shanties of the general business district to avoid the fires that were also common in the early oil days. The cornerstone of the church was laid on June 25, 1864 and the following 4th of July the congregation held a public dinner in Lay’s Grove on the South Side for the purpose of raising funds for their building. The affair was repeated the following year with the addition of a full brass band and string band and a large platform for dancing.
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Joseph Harvey
The new church was dedicated in 1865, probably by Rt. Rev. Josue M Young, Bishop of Erie, although the newspaper account makes no mention of him and only states that “Rt. Rev. Michael Domenec, Bishop of Pittsburgh, and a number of Reverend Clergy” were present. The church was located on the now vacant lot between the present rectory and the convent and was a frame building with windows of “somber stained glass”. The deed for the church was not drawn up until January 28th, 1865. On that date the owners of Graff, Hasson and Company deeded to David Snively, “Parish Priest of Oil City”. Lots 210 and 211 of the companies land in Oil City, stipulating that, “it if further understood that said lots are hereby conveyed exclusively for the erection of a house of worship and other buildings necessary for the accommodation of the Catholic denomination”.
Growth of The Congregation
The church grew rapidly and prospered during the two-year pastorate of Father Snively. From time to time lectures were held in the church, “for a charitable purpose”, for which an admission fee was charged. Since most of these lectures coincided with the fires and floods that plagued the little boroughs at the time, it seems almost certain that the church took this method to come to the aid of her parishioners whose possessions had been destroyed by these catastrophes. The members of Saint Joseph’s had given freely in their time, money and efforts to the building of the church and the church had responded in kind. For some reason, apparently illness, Father Snively was unable to attend to many of his duties toward the end of his pastorate. The name of Father J.D. Coady, his successor appeared in church records as early as May of 1865.
Father John D Coady assumed the pastorate in the fall of 1865; St. Joseph’s not only gained a spiritual leader, but also an able administrator. He had been appointed Vicar-General in 1863, a position he held for 17 years. One year following his appointment to St. Joseph he was called upon to fill a void left by the sudden death of Bishop Young. He was appointed the Administrator of the Diocese for two years. This made it necessary for him to reside in Erie, and during his absence it is reflected in the records that the parish was attended by an unusual number of parish priests from the neighboring parishes.
Creating a School
Upon his return to Oil City, Father Coady immediately gave his attention to the establishment of a parochial school. In 1869 he purchased a small house in back of the church and used it as a temporary classroom. Early in the following year he had this building moved across the street and on May 22, 1870, he officiated the laying of the cornerstone of the new St. Joseph’s School and Temperance Hall, which was to be built on the site of the original schoolhouse. The new school was ready for use by the fall of that year. The building had two stories, the lower one for use as the school and the upper one as a hall for the St. Joseph’s Temperance Society, which had been organized by Father Coady the previous year and had a membership of about 100 men.
First Cemetery
Father Coady’s attention turned next to the acquisition of a cemetery to replace the old Catholic burial ground which was located on a three-acre tract near Pinoak. Five acres adjoining the new Grove Hill cemetery were purchased and the St. Joseph Cemetery was dedicated September 17th, 1871. Those buried in the old graveyard were reinterred in the new, and the three-acre tract in Cranberry Township passed into private ownership.
In the six years of Father Coady’s pastorate the parish had grown not only in size but also in scope. Missions were established at Cranberry (St. Catherine’s), Petroleum Center (SS. Peter and Paul), and at Plumer.
Expansion of the Church
On October 13, 1871, Reverend Thomas Carroll, whose name was to become almost synonymous with St. Joseph’s Parish for a quarter of a century, assumed the Oil City charge. The continued growth of the parish dictated the need for a larger church and Father Carroll next directed his energies to this end. Under his supervision the entire building was lengthened by thirty-two feet on the rear, adding nearly one half to the seating capacity and giving it better proportions. Alternate windows of white ground glass to admit more light and the seats and woodwork were finished in oak. The ceiling was decorated with fresco representing the holy Dove floating in a cloud of light. It was the original intention of the congregation to install a pipe organ: but it was found that the building was not suited for one, so a large cabinet organ was brought in and was in use in time for the dedication on November 10, 1872.
First Rectory
A few years later a fine new parochial residence was also added to the church property. This two-story frame house was completed in 1874. The school, too, had grown; Father Carroll felt the faculty was not adequate. He arranged for the Order of Benedictine Sisters of Erie to assume charge of the school and late on the night of November 12, 187, a group of Benedictine nuns got off the train at the Oil City depot and took a carriage for the new home on Cottage Hill. This was the first assignment of the Benedictines outside the confines of the cloistered confines of their mother house in Erie and was quite a departure from the previous regulation of strict enclosure then prevailing in the Community.
Early Organizations
Under his leadership the St. Joseph’s Temperance Society, founded by Father Coady, prospered. During the first ten years of his pastorate two new groups were formed with the same purpose: the Boy’s Temperance Society for youth ten to fourteen and the Young Men’s Temperance and Literary Society. The hall on the second floor of the school building was used not only as an auditorium for lectures and debates, but also provided a library and game room where the latest newspapers and other reading matter and facilities for such games as billiards and dominoes were supplied in an effort to attract the young men of the parish away from the saloons and bars that lined the downtown streets. In 1897 an auxiliary group, the St. Veronica Guild of St. Joseph’s Church, composed of the leading women of the congregation was formed to lend their influence and moral support to the temperance movement. To Father Carroll, sobriety and patriotism were insuperable. Two other church-affiliated organizations were important, The Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, an insurance company for Catholics, was formed in 1878 and grew to become one of the largest social groups connected with St. Joseph parish. A Ladies Mutual Benefit Association was organized about the same time with charity and care for the less fortunate in the parish as its principal aim. The second organization was the Carroll Commandry, Knights of St. John, which was formed 1896. This was a quasi-military group of young men whose uniformed drill team became a regular site in all-local parades and whose armory on Elm Street was the scene of many local affairs. The aims of the Knight’s of Saint John were simply stated in their articles of incorporation to be “the improvement of their moral, mental and social conditions, the aiding of families of members in the case of want and the promotion of the Roman Catholic Church.
Building the Current Church
Father Carroll could have been a man of wealth and power, his ability in the world of finance his investments were successful. In an era where other men were building empires of rail and oil, he gave fully of his time and energy to the project closest to his heart, the building of the beautiful cathedral-like church on the crest of Cottage Hill that is acknowledged as one of the finest architectural structures of its kind in the state. For almost fifteen years he made a study of various church buildings in all parts of the world and of the finer points of architecture and building construction. In 1889 he submitted a rough draft of his ideas to A. Druiding, a well-known Chicago architect, who created the final design.
Photo courtesy of Derrick Publishing Company
The first foundation stone of the church was laid on May 16, 1890, and on August 3rd, of the same year, 1,500 people witnessed the laying of the cornerstone, a block of Quincy granite three feet square and inscribed, “St. Joseph’s Church, Erected 1890”. On Sunday, June 26, 1894 more than 5,000 people ascended the steep hill in conveyances of all sorts and on foot to witness the dedication of the completed church. Two thousand were admitted to the church by ushers who say to it that as many as possible were accommodated. The aisles were filled, the steps leading to the communion rail were crowded and the stone steps leading from the sidewalk to the entrance were filled with spectators to whom the solemn and impressive music of the mass carried through the open doors. For the less fortunate there was only standing room on Seeley and Pearl Avenues.
Photo Courtesy of Mrs. Joseph Harvey
An outstanding feature of the new church was the magnificent windows, hand painted and burned in antique opalescent cathedral glass. Although the use of electricity as an illuminant was still in its infancy, the gas lights in the new church were son replaced by electric lights in 1895. St. Joseph’s Church had use of electricity at such an early date because the church had it’s own generator. At that time there were only six generators in Oil City. It will never be known how much of his private funds Father Carroll contributed to the Church, but it is estimated he gave almost one-half of the entire cost. The remainder was raised by the congregation who contributed unselfishly, by gifts from other residents of the city and by friends of the Church. The total cost was in excess of $100,000.
Additional Parish Buildings
The frame parochial residence, which had been moved a short distance down Pearl Avenue to make room for the construction of the southwest tower, seemed to be out of place beside the stately new church. In 1896 Father Carroll had it enlarged, rebuilt of brick and redecorated from cellar to attic. This outlay was more than $10,000, all of which was donated from his private funds. In 1896 he announced plans for a brick-building complex to replace the remaining frame structures in the parish center. This was to include a parish hall with meeting rooms, a library, gymnasium, a new convent and a new school. With characteristic generosity he offered to meet half the cost of the construction. Before Father Carroll could see his plan in operation, death came suddenly on May 25, 1898. The entire community regardless of creed or church affiliation, shared the feeling of loss, and his funeral drew attendance from the entire diocese. Over 3,000 were present at the Church and half as many waited patiently on the steps and sidewalks until the services at the alter were over and they were permitted to pass by the casket to take a last fond look at their beloved priest. In clear and concise terms he requested his properties be sold and part of the proceeds go toward the building and finishing of the new St. Joseph’s Church, other parish projects, including a new convent. He also provided for the building of his burial vault and an erection of a memorial tablet in the vestibule of the church. By his death the city lost a good and patriotic citizen; the Church, one of its most able and zealous champions: and St. Joseph’s congregation, a devoted priest, a staunch friend and a great helper.
More rich history to come...