Church History

The Piermont Parish of St. John’s had its beginnings in Haverstraw, when in 1848; Father Francis McKeon became the resident Catholic pastor in Haverstraw. At that time, his church served all of Rockland County’s Catholics. Through Father McKeon’s efforts, the Piermont Congregation was formed and services were held intermittently in the Old Fellows Hall in Piermont. Later, land was purchased on the north side of the Sparkhill Creek, nearly opposite the present Reformed Church of Piermont, where a building which reportedly housed the Church and a Parochial School was built. Mass was first celebrated there on January 1, 1852.

On July 1, 1852, Father John Quinn was appointed the first pastor of the newly established Parish of St. John which included all of Rockland County, south of Haverstraw. Parish history reports that the site of this first church on the Sparkhill Creek was soon moved to its present location on the Grand View border by the Hudson River, where a new church was erected in 1861. Although construction of the church commenced and would have been complete in 1860, a great storm destroyed it before its roof was completed forcing the congregation to rebuild from scratch again. The church was finished in time to hold the first Mass there on August 13, 1861.

For 100 years the beautiful wooden Gothic style church served the Catholic community in Piermont. Then on May 28, 1962, a fire destroyed the church. The present church was built in 1963. During the rebuilding process, Mass was celebrated in the Piermont Village Hall. 

St. John’s has had 17 pastors during its 169 years of existence. Its congregation consists of approximately 800 families who actively support its many services and activities.

Its Connelly Hall serves as a community center for the church’s social and outreach functions, meeting place for Catholic Daughters, Men's Club, Knights of Columbus, Piermont Senior Citizens Club, the Hispanic Community and AA. In addition, Connelly Hall also serves as the polling place for Grand View residents on Election Day.

The Parish sponsors active Outreach Programs to the Piermont community and the County as a whole. Bi-annually it honors community volunteers at Mass and a luncheon. In addition to its regular religious services, it provides religious education for its children and scripture courses for its adults. Holy hour is celebrated the first Friday of each month. Parish social get-togethers are frequent. 

St. Johns takes pride in its diversified Parish family and welcomes all to worship with us by the beautiful Hudson River. 

 

On March, 31, 1928, Grandma Margaret Hauser sold the property on which our church stands today, including the two buildings (the Farmhouse and the Stable), to the Archdiocese of New York for 17,500 dollars.

The number of Catholics in Tappan had grown in South Orangetown, and a new parish was needed to supplement the mother church of the area, St. John’s in Piermont. Following the pattern, a mission church would be attached to the nearest parish, St. Catharine’s in Blauvelt.

The pastor of St. Catharine’s was Msgr. Arthur J. Avard. He hired carpenters to work on the stable to prepare it for new role as a house of worship. The parishioners of the Mission Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart met for Mass at the Tappan fire house and at the Manse Barn while the little stable was changing to become “the Little Chapel.”

The country house now had new status as the rectory for the mission church even though there would not be a priest in residence for years to come. In the time from 1929 until 1952 a series of residents kept the house in running order.

The Little Stable had become the Little Chapel and continued to evolve from 1930 until now, a toil of grateful love. Around 1982, the sanctuary area was renovated by the men of the parish and the members of the Archdiocesan Parish Mission Team. Fluorescent lights and high-hat spotlights brightened up the the chapel floor, and the ceiling dropped another four teen inches to recess the lighting fixtures. The heating system was changed over to natural gas in 1991, and the special unit also provided air conditioning. The work was done by Robert Ortman, Gene McCarty, Thomas Quinn, Brian McConville and other volunteers.

A young boy at St. Dominic’s Home who used to come often to serve Mass for Msgr. Avard and other priests from St. Catharine’s said that the statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Little Chapel is the original brought from Canada by Msgr. Avard.

A sturdy hardwood floor supported the pews and aisles. A baptismal font and a pump organ were near the entrance. Radiators were also placed at the side walls. Seven high windows adorned the side facing the rectory with five on the opposite northeast wall. The wide altar took up most of the sanctuary. The furnace was fueled by oil at about 18 cents a gallon.

Meanwhile, back at the beginning of the parish history, two stone masons from Northvale, New Jersey, the Albanese brothers, built the wall and niche for Our Lady’s Grotto between the Little Chapel and the old rectory. A few low shrubs were planted by the brothers alongside the grotto walls. The marble statue was brought up by Verna Bryant’s father from the lower west side of New York City.

As the waves of children were coming along, the decision to build a school seemed a sound one. Funds were a problem though, since the new families had 3% mortgages on $20-30,000 dollar homes, a big slice of family income in those days. The Parish money available needed to be used in stages. The first stage would be a Hall to serve as a place for Sunday Mass, since the Little Chapel’s seating capacity was limited. A Parish community meeting place was also needed. A suitable hall could later provide a cafeteria and gymnasium for a school.

Construction began on the Hall in 1953 and was completed in 1954. The Hall was built at 90 feet long by 55 feet wide with a ceiling height of about 25 feet. The insertion of basketball hoops by Msgr. Mahoney, around 1967, would make the ceiling seem too low, though still an improvement on most of the low-ceiling roofs of the elementary school lunch/basketball courts of Manhattan and the Bronx. The multi-purpose Hall was ready for action and was blessed in 1954.

There was a long hallway at the left side. The boiler room, two lavatories, and a storage room were built off of the left side of that hallway. At the front, a stage 18 feet deep was erected with several layers of curtains to form a backdrop for years of budding thespians, dancers, and musical artists. At the back end of the Hall was the kitchen. The coat room became the Bingo supplies room until Bingo expired in 1986 after some very successful years.

The school opened in 1964. In 1990 the brick concrete walls were covered with wood paneling by John Rooney and Dan Dennehy. The Hall was air conditioned in 1991. It has served the parish well for so many different activities over the years. Roof lights to illuminate the parking lot were installed in 1975. The paving of a large part of the lot was done in the fall of 1987 to cover the mud and stones that cascaded merrily out onto King’s Highway in any storm of rain, snow or wind.

Money accumulated slowly after the Hall was built. By now, Msgr. Richard Mahoney was the third pastor. A small, feisty, and energetic man, he was anxious to press on with the mandate he had been given to build a school.
No one saw any end to the flow of Catholic immigrants into the New York Archdiocese. St. Catherine’s School was full, and so work proceeded on a school at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School opened in the middle of the 1964-65 school year with four grades and four Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt, with Sr. Francis Regis as the first principal. The school was merged with St. Catherine’s in 1990.

In the fall of 1996, we were able to gather the funds needed to build our new church. Some ninety percent of the money came in within three months, reflecting the strong interest in having a proper church building. With all the necessary permits in hand, the land was cleared and trenches dug in January of 1998. The first week of February, the footings were set and concrete was poured in a solid slab. The mild winter weather gave the concrete time to “cure”. Then steel was added to the plans to provide strength against wind and water; in effect, the church became a steel building with a concrete and brick frame. The design concept was to have a church that would seat at least 350 people, fit in with the historic area and the other plant buildings, be somewhat elegant and traditional, and still be completed without incurring debt.

By early summer the walls were rising. A great day saw the dropping in of the roof trestles, and then the hot sun of summer baked the roofers. With the roof covered, the framers then installed the interior woodwork.

Summer faded to fall and memorial gifts filled the new church with simple, elegant appurtenances. Each weekend before and after Mass, the people of the Parish walked over from the hall to check theprogress and wonder what each space would be used for. The sense of awe and excitement grew. On Saturday, December 12th, the first Mass was said by the pastor, Fr. John F. Dwyer, with over five hundred joyful parishioners joining the folk choir in praising God. Fr. Dwyer prayed that the Lord would walk the corridors of our hearts and the aisles of our church with us. Sunday, December 13th had crowds at every Mass, with an overflow at the ten o’clock Mass shaking the walls in happy hymns with the traditional choir.

The new rectory has a beautiful solid appearance that fits in with the town and the neighboring buildings. A full basement, a spacious rectory office, two smaller offices, plus four suites upstairs made for a useful, sturdy addition to our parish grounds. In the first week of May 2004 we moved our office equipment into the new rectory. Some new furniture was swiftly unloaded and set up, and many parishioners came by to see their parish’s newest addition. Troops of young helpers moved usable furniture from the old rectory into our new quarters, including the regal old fireplace to preserve a bit of the past as we prepared for the future.