Page 189 - ROCHESTER

St. JoHn tHe evangeliSt cHurcH
St. John the Evangelist Parish was the second Catholic Church to be built in the town of Greece.
187
Father John Maurice, a missionary priest from France, and 20 German, Dutch and Irish families formed the original parish in 1865. They purchased the old Rowe Tavern on Ridge Road for use as their rst church. Ten years later the parish had grown to 55 families and a new church, designed by Andrew Jackson Warner, was built on West Ridge Road. It was dedicated by Bishop John McQuaid on Sept. 15, 1875. Father Frederick R. Rauber was the parish’s
rst resident pastor.
In 1891, when George Eastman located Eastman Kodak Co. on the corner of Lake Avenue and West Ridge Road, residential neighborhoods began springing up in the northwest section of Rochester. Continual growth in number of young Catholic homeowners in Rochester continued after World War II., and by 1949, St. John the Evangelist had 400 families; by 1959, the parish numbered 1,500 families.
When the church became inadequate for the growing population, a new edi ce was built in 1963 at 2400 West Ridge Road. The rst Mass in the new church was celebrated on Nov. 7, 1964, by Father Donald Lux, and the church was dedicated by Auxiliary Bishop Lawrence B. Casey on May 2, 1965.
St. John the Evangelist celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2015.