St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church
In 1870, a Pastor was named to minister to a new congregation - St. Michael's Church.
Eventually a church structure was built on 42nd Street, west of 4th Avenue.
And in 1905, a magnificent structure - a veritable landmark in Sunset Park - was built.
No better description of St. Mike's can be given than to share this story with you -
When Gladys Toledo was a little girl (going out into the world by herself for the first time),
her grandmother said to her "If you are ever lost, look up for the steeple of St. Michael's Church.
Just walk towards it and you will find your way home"
On the following pages, I will trace the history of St. Mike's - from a wooden edifice
to its present day monumental place of worship.
Along the way there was an elementary school, a high school, weddings, first communions, confirmations, baptisms, dances, outings and funerals.
Please feel free to share your memories by "clicking" on the "share with us" button.
Tell us your St. Michael's story.
There is no better way to "thank" St. Michael's than to
share with us how St. Michael's was always there for you - to show you, your way home.
(I would like to thank Linda Krekey for being my partner in putting this together)
You will see the button above several times. Feel free to click on it and
send us your story or comments.
Use it as often as you like.
In 1870, a group of local residents asked the Catholic Church to assign a priest to the area. They promised to raise funds to build a church. Bishop Loughlin assigned Father Hickey to this new parish - St. Michael's.
Church services were held in a living room on 3rd Avenue between 41st & 42nd where Father Hickey lived. But within 5 years, he purchased 14 lots on the corner of 4th Ave & 42nd Street.
The first Mass of St. Michael's had 28 Catholics in attendance.
In 1901, the ground breaking ceremony was held. About 200 parishioners paid a quarter each to also dig a spade of dirt from the proposed foundation - a nice way to raise some funds.
Under the second Pastor,
Father O'Connell,
before 1888,
a wooden church, rectory
& school were built.
In the late 1800's and into the beginning of the 1900's people socialized quite differently from today. Today we congregate in our homes around our tv's, computers or cell phones.
But years ago, people worked 6 day weeks, long hours and barely had time to sleep and get back to work. Women, as keepers of the home worked even harder - preparing most of the foods from scratch, and tending the cleaning & laundry with no modern machines.
People looked forward to their days off and entire communities attended events en masse.
Imagine, 3,000 of your neighbors getting together and traveling half way across Brooklyn for an afternoon & evening of festivities such as a picnic, puppet shows for kids and just enjoying the outdoors.
St. Michael’s tower would rise over Sunset Park, and would be seen for miles around; until recently, the church was one of the tallest buildings in Brooklyn. Raymond F. Almirall, the architect, studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the church dome is reminiscent of the Byzantine style domes of the Sacré-Coeur, in Montmartre, which was built in 1884.
These maps are from 1903. The current St. Michael's Church was not yet completed, but work had begun a year earlier and plans for other buildings were already drawn-up.
You may notice on the larger map that Sunset Park did not extend to 44th Street yet. And the old Court House area was a vacant lot - like many other nearby large parcels.
I have included this tragic event because even after this, St. Michael's and other church groups continued to take outings like this one.
I wonder how they were able to put this tragedy behind them.
This tragic death toll was the largest single number of deaths in NYC until 9/11 almost a century later.
I have decided to publish this informal history of St. Michael's on the anniversary of the loss of
those 1,021 lives out of respect
for their souls.
The building above was the original wooden church built before 1888.
To the left is the rectory.
The old church became the "parish house" when the congregation moved to the new building on 4th Avenue.
I believe the children are being entertained with a puppet show.
This outing included a barbeque.
But instead of hotdogs & hamburgers,
an ox was roasted.
In the photo at the bottom on the left you can see a small green lawn with a single tree.
This is where the first church stood.
This is 4th Avenue in 1907.
The center of 4th Avenue had just been planted with trees and bushes.
Folks didn't know that in a few years it would all be torn out
and replaced with a subway underground.
The original wooden church on 42nd Street was converted into a multi-purpose building once the church was moved to 4th Avenue.
It became a gymnasium and a meeting room (seems to be in the main room where the altar and pews had been).
The cornerstone for the school & convent on 43rd Street was laid in 1909.
Card playing as a fund raising event was popular at the time - "euchre" was the main card game.
This was a time of great and rapid growth along 4th Avenue. What had just a few years earlier been a cow path was now lined with beautiful monumental churches and fine structures.
They now joined the castle-like old police precinct which was built in 1886 and which stood alone for decades.
43rd Street very quietly was becoming the most remarkable east-west street in the community.
On the far west you had the entrance to Bush Terminal.
This facility brought shipping, rail and warehousing all under one operation around 1902.
On the far east you had the grand entrance stairway to Sunset Park.
And in between you would one day have the police precinct, St. Mikes and the old Court House.
The 4 story - St. Michael's School had 16 classrooms and an assembly area.
The assembly area was used twice a year for fundraising activities.
For years, the question of using funds collected through public taxes for private religious school expenses has been waged.
The simple response is that in the U.S. we have a separation of church and state.
But parents of kids in private schools say - "but we pay taxes".
I believe the school also housed a convent for Sisters of St. Joseph (from the Brentwood Long Island convent).
These nuns were in charge of all the educational programs in the elementary school.
I assume this was their dining area.
Around 1911, big changes were underway in Sunset Park.
St. Michael's was a well-established church with a landmark-worthy new structure.
There was a large school on 43rd Street and the church had many activities for its parishioners.
But the world outside their doors was being torn asunder.
An underground train was being built along 4th Avenue.
Not too many years earlier the steamship General Slocum tragedy occured.
But that didn't seem to stop the church from sending 2,000 men, women and children on a ship outing. The ship actually picked them up just down 43rd Street.
As Linda & I collected all this data, it soon became evident that in the early days, St. Mikes went through a succession of Priests
due to untimely deaths.
Hopefully, someone might be inspired by this page to create an accurate sequential list of all
the priests who served at St. Michael's.
1902
1902
We have a page similar to this one that details the history of the park our community is named after.
It is possible that the City put the entrance to the park at 43rd Street because of St. Michael's being one block away.
In the early days of the park you had to climb hills to get in, this was easier from 6th or 7th Avenue.
Eventually, these "temporary" wooden steps were installed - but as you can see you had to be in good shape to make it to the top.
"Permanent" masonry steps were finally installed.
But as you can see, this still was quite an exercise to use.
1940
These are the 43rd Street entrance steps that most of us are familiar with.
As you can see they are not quite as challenging.
Around 1940, WPA federally-funded workers were tasked with digging away the high hill along 5th and bringing it down to a more manageable height.
WPA stands for Works Progress Administration. It was a federal program to help get Americans back to work after the depression.
I had to include this photo because I found it a bit amusing. Pictured is Pastor George Aus in 1931.
You may assume he was associated with St. Michael's but instead he was the Pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church a few blocks from St. Michael's - 46th Street - where they are standing.
But if you look between the Pastor and this woman you will see St. Michael's in the distance. Thank you Jackie Lund for this photo.
I especially enjoy the style of dress in this photo.
In this 1932 photo, notice the steeplejack
working on the steeple of St. Michael's Church.
His name is George Hamilton.
In the photo above the structural steel work, you can see that the lot on the east side of 4th Avenue - from 43rd to 42nd was empty.
But in 1931 a new building was constructed across from the church.
This large building today is a NYC landmark. It had two separate courts housed in it.
One you entered from 42nd and one from 43rd.
In 1926, St. Michael's opened its own high school.
Now, in 1934 there was a need and a willingness to expand St. Michael's educational footprint to handle 500 more students.
1952
A blizzard in 1960 made quite a mess in Sunset Park. But what I like the best in this photo above is the one way street sign and the old fashioned street light.
In 1967, Dennis Richards' (3rd from left) team from St. Michael's won the Championship going undefeated. They were called the Tigers.
Below is from the 1985 movie "Heaven Help Us".
Some shooting was done outdoors along 43rd Street and attracted quite a bit of community attention.
Linda Krekey has been investigating the disappearance of
the four
mini-steeples from the St. Michael's tower.
At certain times of the year, the sun sets very close to the steeple of St. Michael's.
It is absolutely worth trying to capture a photo of it from the park.
Through the years, St. Michael's has played a number of roles in the lives of its parishioners.
And at the same time if not for the efforts of the parishioners
there would not be a
St. Michael's today.
I would like to say a nice hello
to Nettie Timko - as she flashes that wonderful smile of hers.
These pictures are from 1990.
As time marches on, things change. First, the blackboards were replaced with "green" boards and then the "old fashioned" fold-down desks with ink well holes in them were replaced by these one piece desks.
I guess once the "cold war" was over and we didn't have to "shelter" by hiding under our desks, we didn't need them anymore.
These desks did provide a little spot near the bottom for storing your books.
Oh, yes the light fixtures changed too.
But sadly, the biggest change was the closing of the schools. It had finally become too costly to operate a school.
This photo is from 2005.
As seen from Joe Miglino's mother's roof on 39th between 5th & 6th in 2013
Steeple viewed in the distance from the new artificial turf soccer field, with lights for night games, in Sunset Park
Everyone has a favorite "steeple" photo, I have tried to include a few to spark your imagination. If you don't see yours here, there will be more a bit further down.
A changing community brings changing customs.
Our newest neighbors from Mexico, South & Central America tend to like to "bring" the church out of the building and to the people.
So our streets are often the location of processions.
This one on Good Friday led by Pastor Kevin Sweeney in 2015.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has embarked on a journey that will take him to each of the 22 newly formed parish deaneries during the pastoral year, 2016-2017.
A deanery is a grouping of parishes near one another that cooperate and work together on special projects.
The Spanish culture celebration of Three Kings Day has made it to St. Michael's.
2017 Bridget Fisher married .
The St. Michael's School may no longer be operating, but the building is still being used to bring education to the young people of Sunset Park.
The Sunset Park Avenues Public School 516 now calls the building home.
No matter when you attended St. Michael's you will always
remember the
St. Michael's "experience"
as one of the great times
of your life.
Ask anyone of these kids.
They will tell you,
"I wish I could go back to those days"
Am I right Darnell? Which of those kids is you?
I will pose this question that I have posed for over 45 years - and I truly do not expect an answer.
Why are the A & E attached to one another?
And why is the C rocking?
A close-up look at just a small portion of the colorful and fine detail in the magnificent
building that is more than a building -
that we call St. Michael's.
This sculpture above the main doors says it all -
this is St. Michael crushing satan.
St. Paul meeting Archbishop Michael in stained glass.
And here, to the right - a pinata takes a beating like satan taking a beating from St. Michael.
One of my favorite photos:
Shirley Steiner Innella's Wedding
to her beloved Paul.
The school yard behind the school
down 43rd Street.
The Rectory
on
42nd Street.
The Center for Family Life building on 43rd Street.
I promised you a few more steeple shots. If this doesn't satisfy you - just send me your favorite shot and I will add it to this page.
On the right, a photo
of the steeple
as seen from
the kitchen of
Jose Petehb Alicea.
The picture on the left
is the steeple seen
from the "flag circle" in Sunset Park
Where else on earth
can you be treated to
a view
of St. Michael's,
grand ships in New York Bay
& New Jersey?
If the photographer would have turned to the right,
he would have seen
the Statue of Liberty
& the Manhattan Skyline.
On the left is a very old postcard of St. Michael's
and above is the steeple
from 43rd Street.
These doors can keep you out or let you in.
It all depends on your heart.
If you want to embrace the spirit within you,
these doors are wide open.
But if you are not ready to admit your faults, not ready to humble yourself before a higher power...
They will appear to be closed to you.
Marta Aviles O'Brien was in the 8th grade
at the time of this filming going on.