Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1914
Postcard. Caption on front: Dorchester, Mass. St. Gregory’s Catholic Church. Erected 1863. Postmarked Jul 13, 1910. Dorchester Center Station, Boston, Mass. With one cent stamp. On verso: The Hugh C. Leighton Co., Manufacturers, Portland, ME., U.S.A.
The following is from http://www.stgregoryparish.com/about-us/parish-history
In 1844 a Catholic parish was formed in South Boston under the name of Saints Peter and Paul. Its territory included all of South Boston, Dorchester, Milton, Hyde Park, Canton and Stoughton. Prior to that time the Catholics of Dorchester and Milton went to church in West Quincy or in Roxbury. Many immigrants moved to southern Dorchester because they could find work in the mills along the Neponset River and in the large homes in Lower Mills and Milton Hill. The pastor of Saints Peter and Paul, Father Fitzsimmons, and his associates found it difficult to serve such a far-flung parish, and in 1847 found a lot on the corner of Washington Street and Churchill’s Lane across from Richmond Street in Lower Mills where they hoped to establish a new parish.
Anti-Catholic sentiment prompted Father Fitzsimmons to use a straw to purchase the property, but soon the news leaked out, and a group of citizens attempted to buy the land from Father Fitzsimmons at a price even higher than he had paid. He refused, but opposition grew when rumors circulated that he intended to open a burial ground on part of the property. The townspeople attempted to influence that state government to pass a law forbidding a cemetery to be opened without the consent of the mayor and aldermen of a city, or the selectmen of a town. The law did not pass, but the strong feeling was clear.
Father Fitzsimmons began building but ran out of money, and the bank holding the mortgage foreclosed. On July 4, 1854, the building was set on fire, and it burned to the ground. Speculation was that the church was blown up by the “Know-Nothings”, the political arm of the nativist movement. In December, 1862, Father Fitzsimmons named Thomas R. McNulty as pastor of a new parish including all of Dorchester, Milton, Hyde Park and a section of Quincy called Atlantic, Squantum. Soon after, Father McNulty purchased land on Dorchester Avenue in Lower Mills close to the site of the earlier unfinished church. Construction of a new church building at 2221 Dorchester Avenue in the Romanesque Revival Style began on August 16, 1863.
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