St. Patrick's Church (Lowell, Massachusetts)

The original Saint Patrick's church was a wooden structure, built in 1831 to support the Irish workmen who had moved to Lowell, largely to work on the Pawtucket and Merrimack Canals. Prior to its construction, they were attended by Rev. John Mahoney, a Catholic clergyman from a nearby town. By 1830 there were over 400 Roman Catholics in Lowell, and on July 3, 1831, St Patrick's Church was consecrated, led by Mahoney. Mahoney left in 1836 to work in Boston, and was succeeded by E.J. McCool. The current stone structure dates to 1853, although a fire in 1904 caused much of the church to be rebuilt by 1906. ==Today==

Today, the church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to the traditional Irish and French Canadian congregations, the parish, including its school, serves local Southeast Asians, specifically with Vietnamese and Cambodian native-language Masses. ==Architecture==

St. Patrick's is located on the eastern edge of the Lowell neighborhood known as The Acre, an area where Irish immigrants originally settled in squatters' camps to work in Lowell's mills. The church overlooks one the city's power canals, at the junction of Suffolk and Cross Streets. It is built in a cruciform plan out of coursed rubblestone with ashlar granite trim. A tower in height projects from the front facade, with stone buttresses flanking the main church entrance at its base. The main entrance and the flanking side entrances are set within Gothic lancet-arched openings, above which is a three-part lancet-arched window; the tower's tall first stage includes a smaller lancet window, while the second stage housed a belfry with louvered lancet-arched openings and is topped by octagonal steeple decorated with lancet dormers. ==Gallery==

File:Nave and altar of Saint Patrick Church; Lowell, MA; 2012-05-19.JPG|The church's nave and altar. File:Detail of altar in Saint Patrick Church; Lowell, MA; 2012-05-19.JPG|detail. File:Saint Patrick Teaching the Chieftains at Tara stained glass window in Saint Patrick Church (detail); Lowell, MA; 2012-05-19.JPG|Saint Patrick Teaching the Chieftains at Tara stained glass window above main entrance. File:Memorial to Reverends O'Brien of Saint Patrick Church; Lowell, MA; 2011-09-03.JPG|Memorial to Reverends O'Brien immediately outside main entrance. File:Saint Patrick Church rectory; Lowell, MA; 2012-05-19.JPG|The church rectory. ==See also==