No. 2198 Saint Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, published in The Gothic Churches of Dorchester (1972)
1 Lingard Street
In 1896 Father Ronan of St. Peter’s faced two construction tasks–the Parish School and a mission church, St. Paul’s, Woodward Park Street and Lingard Street. The Church of St. Paul had a frontage on Woodward Park Street of 70 feet and is 125 feet in depth. On New Year’s Day, 1908, St. Paul’s became a separate parish in the care of the Rev. Joseph G. Anderson, later the Auxiliary Bishop of Boston.
St. Paul’s moved to the building now used by the Holy Family Parish between Robin Hood and Lingard Streets. The 1918 map shows the church on Woodward Park Street. At that time the Archbishop of Boston owned the land where the current building stands, but it had not yet been built. The architect of this newer St. Paul’s whose exterior was begun in 1921 and whose cornerstone was laid in 1923 was Charles Maginnis of Boston who designed the church in Gothic Renaissance style.
The first pastor was Joseph G. Anderson, 1908-1917. The second pastor was John J. Farrell, 1918-1930. Charles N. Cunningham became the third in 1930.
The building is now used as Holy Family Parish.
For more information, consult:
Dorchester Old and New, 1630-1930. (Dorchester: Chapple Pulishing Company for the Dorchester, Massachusetts, Tercentary Committee, 1930)
Emery, S.L. A Catholic Stronghold and Its Making. A History of St. Peter’s Parish, Dorchester, Massachusetts, and of Its First Rector the Rev. Peter Ronan, P.R. (Boston, 1910)
Tucci, Douglass Shand. The Gothic Churches of Dorchester. (Boston: Tribune Publishing Co. For the Dorchester Savings Bank, 1972)