St. Bridget's Catholic Church
An Irish Origin
The congregation began with a group of 20 families. The mission was led by Fr. James Daley, Pastor of St Mary’s, Gloucester. Although not Catholic, Mr. Whitney donated the land for the church, located on the northwest corner of University Boulevard and Harvard Road (39.707529, -75.129538). The parish’s Irish origin lead to the church being called St. Bridget, the second patron saint of Ireland.
Many of the parishioners worked at the local Whitney Glassworks. The walk from the glassworks to the church was long and tiresome. So to accommodate, the church decided to move. In 1882 the land was purchased for the new church on Church St. and construction began.
As the construction began, there was a breakdown causing the church to be left on the railroad tracks. Since the passenger trains were done for the day the moving of the church was halted till morning. However, the freight train schedule was still occurring with the church dangerously sitting on the tracks. Fortunately, a trainman alerted the train and a group of off-duty rail workers moved the church off the tracks preventing a collision. The construction of the church was finished by the same year.
In 1963 a new church was built across from the previous location on 125 Church St. The old church was demolished in 1964 and was paved over to become a parking lot for the church.
