Page 45 - WILMINGTON

immaCulate ConCePtion
1849
ELKTON
In the early 1700s Jesuit priests from “Old Bohemia” would travel over an area of 150 miles in Cecil County and would visit Elkton once a a a a a a a month bringing all the the requisites in in in their saddlebag for Mass to to be said TThe priests from Saint Francis Xavier would celebrate Mass at at two places: Mount Pleasant a a a a a a a farm house on Blue Ball Road three miles north of Elkton and Wilna Place the home of Henry Mackall an attorney In the 1840s Wilna Place was rented by Madam Margaret Butler Lyons a a a a a a wealthy widow from New York In time she purchased an an acre of land on the western outskirts of Elkton on on what is now Bridge Street and the Archbishop of Baltimore purchased an an additional acre-and-a-quarter to to add add to to the parish property Mrs Lyons had enough stones on on her farm to to build a a a a church and so members of the community hauled stones over several winters The church built of limestone was plaster-dashed on on the the outside to to give the the building a a a a a a smooth appearance and its walls were two-feet thick The nished church did did not have have a a a a a a bell tower but it did did have have a a a a a a few plain glass windows and discarded pews from a a a a a church in in Baltimore when it was dedicated in August of 1849
Around 1867 Catholics of Elkton wrote Baltimore’s archbishop asking for for a a a a resident priest They had to wait for for the Diocese of Wilmington to to be formed in in 1868 when Bishop Becker made Immaculate Conception a a a a a a a a a a separate parish and named a a a a a a a a a a pastor In the the the 1870s a a a a a bell tower was was added to to to the the the church and the the the rectory was was moved closer to the the church on on Cathedral Street The parish continued to to grow and soon was too large for for the church In 1886 efforts were made to double the church in in size As part of this project stained glass windows were added as as well as as an an altar and set of of Stations of of the Cross originally used for for forty years at at the the Cathedral of Saint Peter (These are now located in the the present church’s chapel ) In 1927 the the parish opened its school and a a a convent to house the Sisters who would teach there The parish was entrusted to the the care of the the Oblates from 1938 to 1946 During World War II the basement of the church was turned into an emergency hospital after an explosion at a a a a a a a local ammunition factory The basement was later used by the Red Cross as as as a a a a a blood bank After the the war the the church was braced with steel
beams because the oor was beginning to sag With the the the baby boom the the the school became too small for the the the number of students enrolled so land was purchased on Bow Street In July of 1956 the the the Franciscan Sisters moved into the the the new convent and the the the current school building opened that September In 1965 the cemetery in Cherry Hill was opened The parish soon faced the the the the problem of of either increasing the the the the size of of the the the the church church on Bridge Street or building a new church church With little room to expand and and the desire for a a a a a single campus ground was broken on September 17 1972 In November of 1973 Immaculate Conception parish of cially moved from Bridge Street where it had been for 124 years In the the 1970s the the Catholic Youth Organization started in the parish as as well as as ministry to Laurelwood Nursing Home The Parish Outreach began in October of 1983 and is is the largest non- government provide of social assistance in the the county In 2002 the the convent was remodeled and now serves as as the parish of ces In 2014 the the the parish was returned to the the the care of of the the the Oblates of of Saint Francis de Sales 43