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immaculate concePtion/ St. Bridget’S cHurcH
Bishop John Timon of the Diocese of Buffalo established Immaculate Conception Church in 1847 to serve Irish immigrants in the Rochester area.
The bishop of Kildare, Ireland, sent Father John Patrick to become the rst pastor in 1849. The original church on the city’s Edinburgh Street was destroyed by re in 1864. That same year, Bishop Timon laid the cornerstone of the current Romanesque church at 445 Frederick Douglass St. in Rochester’s Corn Hill neighborhood, and
dedicated it on Aug. 6, 1964.
Msgr. Joseph S. Cameron served as pastor for more than three decades until his death in 1952.
The church has been renovated a number of times. Its exterior was refurbished in 1990, and the structure was added to the National Register of Monroe County Historic Buildings in 1992. Work
on the interior was completed in 1980 and 2000. During the latter renovation, Masses took place for several months in the auditorium of the former school building.
In February 2010, the parish joined with the community at St. Bridget’s Church. Originally founded by Irish immigrants in 1854 on St. Bridget’s Drive in Rochester, St. Bridget’s moved in the late 1990s to the Hudson Avenue area, where it served a predominantly African-American congregation.
Immaculate Conception/St. Bridget’s continues to serve as a faith community in the African-American tradition.
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