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St. ann’S cHurcH
For Catholic families in the Owasco area in the early 1900s,
getting to Mass meant a 13-mile journey to St. Patrick Church in Moravia.
Tthe trip was made in a horse-drawn wagon or, in the winter months, horse-drawn bobsled. These families eventually tired of their weekly trek, and
in September 2011 they formed St. Ann’s Church.
The Owasco church was a mission of St. Patrick and shared its pastor, Father Cornelius Silke. In January 1912 the new parish purchased a former Presbyterian church at 4890 Twelve Corners Road for $2,000, and parishioners gathered for Mass in their new church that same month.
Those early parishioners worked hard to pay off the debt incurred by the purchase of their church building. A lighting strike in 1921 damaged the church and created a need for repairs, yet the parish was able to pay off its debt in 1927.
During the Great Depression, an antiques dealer offered the parish $1,200 for their stained-glass windows and, although sorely tempted, the parish’s 10 families decided to keep their church’s windows and nd another way to raise money. In the 1940s the parish began holding a chicken-barbecue fundraiser, and the event continues as a cherished tradition to this day.
Sacred Heart Parish was founded in the northern part of Owasco in 1956, at which point St. Ann’s ended its af liation with St. Patrick and became a mission of Sacred Heart, which it remains today.
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