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St. Patrick’S cHurcH
It probably comes as no surprise that St. Patrick’s Church was founded by Irish-Catholic immigrants who began gathering for Mass at an old Victor schoolhouse in 1850.
St. Patrick’s Church was of cially founded on Aug. 15, 1856, and parishioners purchased a plot
of land on what is now School Street for $290.
Working together, parishioners constructed a frame church immediately, and celebrated Masses inside the clapboard building even before construction was completed. St. Patrick’s was a mission church of St. Ann Parish in Palmyra until 1859, when it became a mission church of St. Bridget Parish in East Bloom eld. In 1882 St. Patrick’s became an independent parish, and Father Angelo Lugero became its rst resident pastor.
The current church was built at 115 Maple Ave. in 1924. By this time the parish had also begun to
welcome Italian and German immigrants, and the parish continued to grow.
In the 1990s then-pastor Father George Wiant asked parishioners to look into the possibility of erecting a parish center, and the parish soon undertook a $1.1 million expansion project that added the center to the rear of the existing church building. Bishop Matthew H. Clark dedicated the parish center on Aug. 7, 1996. The center is home to many parish social gatherings and committee meetings, as well as St. Patrick’s faith-formation classes.
More than 60 young children are enrolled in St. Patrick’s Preschool, which also is housed in the parish center.
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