Saturday, April 10, 2010

French Churches of Cohoes, Part 1

My mother  made her first communion in St. Joseph's in Cohoes.  My grandparent's were married in the same church and buried in St Joseph's cemetery.



St Joseph's was founded in 1868 and Mass was celebrated in Latin and  in French. I went to a Mass there in 2008 and took some pictures.  Its FrancoAmerican heritage was once proudly stated on its website but the website is gone and  St. Joseph's was permanently closed in February 2009.  So here are some of the photos I took....





 Some of the last parishioners of St. Joseph's

St. Joseph's doesn't look much different than other Catholic churches of the northeast built in the 19th century but it is the church my great great grandparents helped to build with their little donations after they left St.Cesaire in Quebec to work in the textile mills of Cohoes.  It is the church my great grandmother walked to every morning to go to Mass. My grandparents and the grandparents of so many others lived intimately with this church and other parishioners when it once was the center of a living FranoAmerican community and thriving industrial economy.


1 comment:

  1. Many thanks for posting a photo of the organ. Do you know who built it? The Organ Historical Society does not have a listing for it in their database. I'd like to think it was a big tracker built by Hook & Hastings, but it is hard to say. Now that the church is closed and for sale, what will become of the organ?

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