Staff Reports
The sale of St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church on Bristol Avenue is very close, according to Kevin Keenan, director of the Office of Communications for the Diocese of Buffalo.
“The buyer is working out last-minute details,” Keenan said. “We hope to have sale finalized in the next couple of weeks.”
St. Joseph’s and St. Anthony’s, two Italian parishes, were twinned and then merged with St. Patrick’s, now All Saints. St. Joe’s on Market Street is now an oratory of All Saints and a citywide religious education center.
St. Mary’s, also scheduled to be closed, is appealing its merger into All Saints.
Almost 4 million Italians came to America the first quarter of the 20th century, and former miners from Pennsylvania and West Virginia migrated to Lockport. Many settled near the railroad yard on the west side of Lockport.
St. Anthony’s was built on the west end and St. Joe’s was beneath the escarpment in Lowertown.
According to the Rev. Joseph Dumphrey, St. Anthony’s was finished in less than six months in 1928 at a cost of $40,000.
After St. Mary’s of Gasport was merged into St. John the Baptist, the church property was sold. The disposition of the remaining buildings and property were left to the discretion of the merged parish.
