Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Park St., Syracuse
HISTORY OF THE
DIOCESE OF SYRACUSE,
established 1886:
Story of the Parishes,
1615 – 1909:
pages 95 – 99:
Edited by William P.
H. Hewitt:
Printed 1909, Catholic
Sun Press; Wm. P. H. Hewitt, Publisher
HOLY TRINITY
CHURCH
In June, 1890, a number of German Catholic families living in the
neighborhood of Round Top and members of the Church of the Assumption parish,
organized themselves into a society, purchased a part of Kaiser's Grove,
and began thereon the erection of a small church. Thus was inaugerated
Holy Trinity, third German parish of Syracuse. These families, some
of whom lived three or four miles from the parent church, first petitioned
their pastor, the Rev. Bonaventure Zoller, O.M.C., for a neighborhood school
that their little ones might have proper religious training without the disadvantage
of having to travel considerable distances each day to procur it. The
first effort in this direction was made by Mrs. Frederick Schneider, who
went to Father Zoller with her request and was him referred to the Bishop.
Bishop Ludden, interested by her story, advised that if necessity existed
for a school, a church also was needed. She left under instruction
to prepare a list of the Catholic families living in the district comprising
the bounds of the present parish. Pleased with the gracious consideration
of the Bishop and enthused at the prospect of a church of their own, these
pious people gathered to perfect an organization.
The first men to identify themselves with the movement
were Frederick Schneider, husband of its initiator, Gabriel Buschle and Frederick
Foederer. An informal meeting was called for June 22, 1890. This
was held in Saile’s Hall, Butternut street, Mr. Schneider presiding.
According to the wish of the Bishop, a census had been taken and this showed
two hundred and eighty-six families living within the proposed and of these
forty-four were of Irish or French descent. A committee consisting
of John Baier, Gabriel Buschle, William Kopf, Albert Belge and Anton Schmitt
carried this list to Bishop Ludden and begged his consent for the erection
of a church and school. A favorable reply was returned to a meeting
held July 6 and thereupon a resolution was passed authorizing the purchase
from Dennis McCarthy of three lots on Park street, a plot measuring 120 x
130 feet. A building committee was appointed with the following officers:
Frederick Schneider, president; Jacob Amend, vice-president; Albert Belge,
recording secretary; John Baier, financial secretary; John Vaeth, treasurer.
On the Board of Trustees were Frank Burgmeier, Gabriel Buschle and Martin
Foederer. All these officers were elected for six months but on October
26th other officers were elected as follows: John Baier, president; Dominic
Kraus, vice-president; Albert Belge, recording secretary; Jacob Mathes, financial
secretary, and Frederick Schneider, treasurer. The latter resigning
April 14, 1891, William Kopf was appointed in his place. The new trustees
were Martin Foederer, George Straub and Karl Belge. Meanwhile the people
busied themselves in gathering money by collections and entertainments.
It was decided January 11, 1891, to erect a two-story frame building, 42
x 20 feet, to serve as church and school. J. Hemmer & Sons were
given the contract which called for an expenditure of $5,738.
On April 22, 1891, thirteen members were elected
as trustees, the church having been incorporated under the name of Holy Trinity
Church Society, viz: Peter Noetcher, John Biermann, Gabriel Buschle,
Joseph Glath, Peter Becker, Frederick Schneider, William Kopf, John Spiegel,
Dominic Kraus, Joseph Renk, Frank Schuckmeier, Joseph Brilbeck and Michael
Rauch. Joseph Glath was elected president.
The church was finished in October but before it’s
dedication a fair, the first one given for the benefit of the new congregation,
was held in it. This netted a sum of $1,412.97. About this time
a priest, Father Bayer, who had come from the west, was sent by the Bishop
to take charge of the new parish but he remained only a month. The
church was not ready for services and his only official act was the baptism
of Lauretta Zimmer, the first child of the parish.
Meanwhile the church was receiving its furnishings.
Pews were bought for $416.00. St. John the Evangelist church donated
its large and beautifully carved wooden main altar of Gothic style.
Another donation were the two large large iron statues of the Sorrowful Mother
and of St. John the Evangelist. They once stood as ornaments in a private
park on James stree and were rescued from the scrap heap at Dunning’s foundry.
Another relic is the little church-bell. For years it had called the
children in the neighborhood of Magnolia street to the public school.
When finer quarters had been prepared for the children, the old school building
had been sold and with it the bell. It remained in it’s little tower
until the people of Holy Trinity parish secured it from its owner as a donation
to their church.
In November, 1891, the Bishop put the new parish
in charge of the Rev. John Reuland. The first mass was said privately
on November 12. On the following Sunday, November 15, 1891, the building
was blessed by the Very Rev. John J. Kennedy, Vicar General, the Bishop being
away at the time. Father Aloysius Heller of St. Joseph’s (German) church
came with his altar boys to assist. He brought with him the ostensorium
of St. Joseph’s church and this was used in giving the first sacramental
blessing.
Father Reuland is still pastor of the church.
He was born in 1852 in Consdorf, Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. After
finishing his classical and theological studies in his native country he
was ordained to the priesthood in 1877. His first appointment was as
an assistant at a mission where he served for four years and during four
other years he held a teaching position in a State Agricultural College.
After these eight years of service he accepted appointed as missionary to
the German Immigrants at Castle Garden, NY, P.P. Cahensly, as secretary of
St. Raphael’s Society for the Protection of German Emigrants, having applied
to the Bishop of Luxemburg for a priest to take charge. This was in
1885. For six years he worked in this mission and not without success
as is proved by the Leo House for Catholic German immigrants, 6 State street,
New York, which was established through his efforts. These six years
had been years of hardship and struggle and the post was gladly relinquished
when he learned through Rev. Peter Scmitt of Rome of the new parish in Syracuse
and of the Bishop’s willingness to appoint him as it’s pastor. With
Father Reuland’s advent a parochia; residence was purchased for $1,900.00.
It is the Jasper street house still owned by the congregation, and is located
to the rear of the church lot. On November 8th a meeting was held at
the Bishop’s house and the transfer of the church property, which was held
by a private church corporation, was made to the Board of Trustees of the
diocesan regulation, consisting of the Rt. Rev. Bishop, the Vicar-General,
Father Kennedy, Rev. John Reuland, pastor, and Joseph Glath and Peter Becker
of the old board.
From June, 1890, to November 15, 1891, the sum of
$2,172.86 was collected. An entertainment brought $282.87, a picnic
$218.84, and the fair $1,412.97. In all $4,087.44 had been raised before
the appointment of a pastor. According to a financial report, the first
one in print, dated January 1, 1892, the sum of $10,578.48 had been taken
in, this sum including a mortgage of $5,585. The expenses had run up
to $9,484.15, leaving a balance in the treasury of $1,094.33, with $9,580.70
of debt.
During the summer months of 1892, a two-story parish
house was erected at the rear end of the church building, and attached to
it, at a cost of $2,024.95, the Jasper street house being turned over to
the school Sisters.
In September, 1892, the school was opened with 180
children, divided into three classes. The first teachers were Franciscan
Sisters from Milwaukee. Two years later these were replaced the Franciscan
Sisters of Syracuse.
In 1895 the house on the west side of the church
was bought for $2,400 and this serves as a more convenient convent for the
Sisters. In 1899 a parish hall was built at a cost of $3,383, and in
1902 a third story was added to the pastor’s residence, thus bringing the
house under the same roof as the church.
Despite the cost of all these new acquisitions and
improvements the congregation kept paying off the mortgage. A fair
held in Feruary, 1903, brought the necessary means to acquit the remaining
debt on the church property, a mortgage of $1,500. The church holdings
are valued at $30,000. What next? A new church, of course, say
the pastor and people. A building fund was started in 1904 and now
amounts to to $11,000. Seven lots at the corner of Park and Second
North streets were purchased in 1905 from the Father O’Hara estate for $4,100,
and it is planned to erect an edifice which when completed and furnished
will cost $75,000, and for all time be a monument to the zeal and piety of
the people of Round Top, who, poor in the world’s goods, are rich in faith
and good works. May God bless the undertaking.
Of the 286 families on the Bishop’s list only 160
became real members of the new congregation and of these not all were supporting
members. Several Irish families became active members but they were
lost to Holy Trinity when St. Vincent de Paul’s parish was established.
Of the other families on the list about fourty or fifty remained with Assumption
church, although they live within the limits. The remaining fifty or
sixty families are not accredited to any parish.
To-day after sixteen years of existence the number
of families has increased to about two hundred and seventy. The school,
which in 1892 opened with 180 children, now has an average attendance of
210 children.
The new parish limits are north and east, the open
fields; west, Butternut and Third North streets; south, Lodi street and the
Erie canal.
HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE OF SYRACUSE, established 1886: available at
the Onondaga County Public Library, The Galleries, S. Salina St., Syracuse,
NY
Submitted by; Michael Hallatt
Notes; I have attempted to transcribe these pages exactly as
written in the book. Any spelling or grammatical errors are as they were
published in book. Reminder, this was written back in 1909. My G-G-Grandparents
are Frederick Schneider and Mrs. Frederick Schneider in this article. Both
of them were born in Germany. Mrs. Frederick Schneider is the former
Anna Herbst. My grandmother, Grace Marie (Schneider) Hallatt is the daughter
of Ludwig Schneider, who is one of the children of Frederick and Anna Schneider.
Submitted
10 July 2002