Notre Dame Catholic Church - Southbridge, Massachusetts
Posted by: BruceS
N 42° 04.671 W 072° 02.200
18T E 745128 N 4662669
Historic Catholic Church in Southbridge, Massachusetts.
Waymark Code: WM4XYT
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 10/11/2008
Views: 12
Notre Dame Parish was founded on November 29, 1869 and its first church was a
large wooden church. By the late 1800's the congregation had grown substantially
due to the influx of Canadian immigrants coming from farms in French Canada to
work in the mills of Southbridge. With the growing population efforts were
underway to build a larger church building.
The building was designed by Joseph Venne of Montreal as architect and the
Roman artist Gonippo Raggi as artist-decorator. The church was built of white
marble bricks which were originally intended as tombstones for the Spanish
-American war. It has a red Spanish tile roof, and measures 190 feet in length.
The nave is 78 feet across and the transept is 123 feet long.
Construction was begun on March 25, 1911 and the church was dedicated July 2,
1916.
The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.