History from the Internet

Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church

Date of Construction: 1871/72
Style: Gothic with Italianate Patterned Brickwork tower.
Architect: Lawrence Connor
Contractors: Michael Quinn (masonry), Thomas Molloy (general carpentry),  interior finish by Smith & Crain of New York (Charles Hay, carpenter)

Overview: The post card to the right shows Saint Joseph Church in 1906.  It was built of Ridgeways Brick, made in Newton, New Jersey. The native blue limestone is used for the foundation. Originally 100 pews capable of seating 450 parishioners; pillars, beams and arches were made of pine with black walnut trimmings; wainscoting of alternating strips of pine and black walnut; each stain-glass window (seven on one side, six on the other) originally bordered with red, green, purple, scarlet, lake, blue or yellow (opposite windows having borders of same color).

Chancel windows depict: Saint Joseph (center); The Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint John (to left); Saint Teresa and Saint Edward (to right). Sacristy originally located to left of main altar; small altar to right. Two confessionals were located in basement. A 500 pound bell cast at McShane Foundry of Baltimore added in 1881 by donation of Anne O'Leary.

Interior redecorated and sanctuary frescoes done in 1892 (by Daniel Sutton). Hand-carved Stations of Cross from Germany donated in 1892 by Thomas Farrell (and removed 1966, together with original statues). Electric lights installed in 1899. Twelve clerestory paintings done in 1914: The Annunciation (memorial to Michael Quinn); The Marriage of Mary and Joseph (Mr. and Mrs. Fabian Weiss); The Visitation (Gift of Children of Mary); The Nativity and The Adoration of the Kings (Gift of Polish Parishioners); Warning to Saint Joseph (Robert Hamil); Presentation in the Temple and Flight into Egypt (Memorial to William J. Clary); Going Up to Jerusalem (Father James Mulhall, former pastor); The Home at Nazareth (Children of Saint Joseph Church); and the Death of Saint Joseph (Memorial to deceased pastors).

Domenico Borgia of New York designed the marble altar, which were carved in Carrara, Italy; Ellen Kays McLaughlin, Papal Marchioness, donated the main altar, which was dedicated November 28, 1915. Electrician Simonson installed electric lights in the church in June 1916. Father Michael J. Donnelly consecrated the side altars on August 11, 1918. Electric pipe-organ installed in 1926. Front entrance rebuilt and sacristy enlarged in 1931. Interior painted and stain-glass windows installed 1938/39. Teresa Concilio donated new pews in 1948. Entrance rebuilt in 1998.

The contract for building Saint Joseph Church was awarded to mason Michael Quinn and carpenter Thomas Malloy, of Newton, for $9,700 in May 1871. The architect was Lawrence O’Connor. Brick came from Ridgeway’s Newton Brick Yard were used with local limestone trim in a Gothic design. The cornerstone was laid June 11, 1871. The building is 71 feet in length by 43 feet in width. Beside the body of the church, there were two additions: a vestry 15 by 10 feet and a sanctuary of circular form, 15 by 20 feet. The sidewalls, of Sussex blue limestone, were 16 feet in height, and the basement wall 10 feet. The tower, which is ten feet square, was constructed of brick, rises 50 feet from its base and about 70 feet from the water table. Saint Church was dedicated on September 1, 1872.

Father Richard Bolger conducted the first Roman Catholic Mass on record in the village of Newton on November 25, 1821. Prior to construction of the first Catholic Church on Jefferson Street in 1855, Masses were said in private homes, including the house of Edward McCormick on Spring Street and the Blackwell residence on Church Street, then occupied by Francis Gray as a dwelling and harness shop.

The earliest known priests to extend their ministry into Sussex County included Father John Callan, of Dover; Father Senez, of Madison; and Father B. J. McQuaid, of Madison (and later Bishop of Rochester). Father McMahon was appointed to the Parish of Sussex County in 1854, becoming the first resident priest. The Right Reverend Bishop Bayley, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Newark, purchased two of the Conover Town Lots, situated a few yard southeast of the Newton Graveyard, in February 1855 for building a Roman Catholic Church. Father McMahon, the officiating Catholic priest in Newton, negotiated the sale. Irish Catholics erected a simple frame Church within the present confines of the Old Catholic Burial Ground on Jefferson Street in the autumn of 1855. It remained pewless, rough boarded without and unplastered within for several years. Father James McKay, later of Waterside parish in County Derry, Ireland, succeeded Father McMahon in November 1857. In August 1861, Father McKay went to Orange and Father M. Byrne, assistant at Cathedral of Saint John in Newark, came to Newton. Father McCosker became pastor on August 14, 1861. A parochial school opened in the church basement in April 1864.

Father G. W. Corrigan re-opened a parochial school in September 1881. In August 1882, classes were relocated from the church basement to the old church building on Jefferson Street. The Sisters of Charity were given charge in September 1886. The earliest teachers of record were Sisters Celestia, Cornelia, Dolorita and Mercedes.

In October 1954, Saint Joseph Parish announced plans to build a parochial elementary school on the old railroad spring lot at the intersection of Jefferson and Halsted Streets. Anthony J. De Pace, of New York, designed the new building with eight classrooms. Saint Joseph Roman Catholic School opened in September 1956 with an enrollment of 179 students and teachers provided by the Sisters of Christian Charity. A large addition was built in 1968.