St Lawrence Roman Catholic Church – Troy, NY | Troy Irish Genealogy Society

St Lawrence Roman Catholic Church
Jefferson & Third Street, Troy NY

St Lawrence Church

On October 15, 1859 a group of German-speaking Roman Catholics gathered at St. Mary’s Parish Hall in Troy and celebrated Mass in the German language, led by Fr. Metinger, a priest from Europe.

Eighty-three persons continued meeting with a view to forming a parish for German-speaking Catholics. Under the leadership of Bishop Conroy, St. Lawrence Parish for German-speaking persons was established in 1868. For brief periods of time the small community worshiped in Lutzelberger’s Hall, St. Mary’s Parish and St. Jean Baptiste Parish. On September 4, 1870, the cornerstone was laid for a small wooden building which served as the church and later as the first parish school. On May 20, 1883, the cornerstone was laid for the present church structure and on May 11, 1884, the building was formally consecrated.

St Lawrence RC Church – Troy

The following photographs are all connected to St. Lawrence’s, Church, School and Parish Community.

In 1959, which was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the parish and also the 75th anniversary of the physical church building, a major restoration of the church was undertaken. This endeavor lasted through 1965.

St. Lawrence Church was permanently closed on September 26, 1987 and the parish joined with St Joseph’s in South Troy. In preparation for the closing of St. Lawrence, Albany Bishop Howard J. Hubbard asked parishioners Jack Reilly and Ms. Hynes to “represent the parish as acting trustees and to work with” the Diocesan Chancellor “for the disposition of both the church and rectory buildings.” Thanks to the prominent role Mr. Reilly played in the disposition of the parish possessions and his retention of those records for more than 22 years, it was possible to build a database of memorial names for this long closed Catholic Church. Several boxes of other records were saved and are in the collection of the Rensselaer County Historical Society, including some parishioner records.

As of early 2018, the building was scheduled for demolition.

The following listing of Memorial Names connected with St. Lawrence Church, as well as some history of the Parish, was developed from data provided by Jack Reilly and his cousin Lynn Carey Grice.

wdt_ID	Name	Memorial	Location	Inscription	Church	Status
1	Altar Society	Memorial Plaque		Altar Society	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
2	Alvey, Douglas	Renovate/Refurbish – Pews		Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Alvey	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
3	Baker, Balthassar	Stained Glass Window	Front Altar – Left Side	In Memory of BalthasarBaker – Original Window by A. Louis Ruscher	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
4	Baker, Balthassar	Station of the Cross XI	Now in St. Cecilia Church – Iselin, NJ	Balthassar Baker	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
5	Baker, Librula	Stained Glass Window	Front Altar – Right Side	In Memory of LibrulaBaker – Original Window by Anthony Trei	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
6	Bode, Josepha	Station of the Cross III	Now in St. Cecilia Church – Iselin, NJ	Anton Doring – Josepha Bode	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
7	Bonk, Adelheid	Station of the Cross XIV	Now in St. Cecilia Church – Iselin, NJ	Marianna Goetz- Adelheid Bonk	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
8	Bragle, Charles, Jr.	Repository	Now at St. William’s Church – Troy, NY	In Memory of Charles Bragle, Jr.	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
9	Bragle, Jane	Renovate/Refurbish – Confessional – Left		Mrs. Jane Bragle	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
10	Bragle, Jane M.	2 Sets Candle Holders	Now at St. Joseph’s Church – Troy, NY	In Memory of Henrietta Frank – Given by Jane M. Bragle	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
11	Brehm, Georg	Station of the Cross XIII	Now in St. Cecilia Church – Iselin, NJ	Georg Brehm	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
12	Brown, Hedwig	Station of the Cross X	Now in St. Cecilia Church – Iselin, NJ	Hedwig Brown	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
13	Brown, Jacob	Stained Glass Window	5th Window – Left Side	Jacob Brown	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
14	Buechler, Francis, Rev.	Renovate/Refurbish – Sanctuary		Rev. Francis Buechler	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
15	Bushwinger, Fred	Memorial Plaque		Mr. & Mrs. Fred Bushwinger	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
16	Bushwinger, Helen	Gold Monstrance	Now at St. Joseph’s Church – Troy, NY	In Memory of Helen Bushwinger – Given by Denby’s Department Store, Troy, NY	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
17	Cardish, Sigmund	Renovate/Refurbish – Confessional – Right		Mr. & Mrs. Sigmund Cardish	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
18	Choir & Rosary Society	Stained Glass Window	In Back of Organ	Donated by the Choir & Rosary Society	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
19	Comerford, Andrew	Renovate/Refurbish – Stations of the Cross	Now at St. Cecelia Church – Iselin, NJ	Andrew Comerford – By His Son	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
20	Comerford, Mary	Renovate/Refurbish – Stations of the Cross	Now at St. Cecelia Church – Iselin, NJ	John J. Grogan – By Mary Comerford	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
21	Connolly, Ann	Renovate/Refurbish – Nave		John A. & Ann Connolly	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
22	Connolly, John A.	Renovate/Refurbish – Nave		John A. & Ann Connolly	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
23	Cramer Philip	Station of the Cross IV	Now in St. Cecilia Church – Iselin, NJ	Philip Cramer	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
24	Denby’s Department Store	Gold Monstrance	Now at St. Joseph’s Church – Troy, NY	In Memory of Helen Bushwinger – Given by Denby’s Department Store, Troy, NY	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987
25	DePaul, Frank	Renovate/Refurbish – Lighting Fixtures		Mr. & Mrs. Frank DePaul – By Their Son	St. Lawrence, Troy, NY	Closed – 9/27/1987