Historical September 1986 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Sunday, September 14, is the day.
Everyone in the neighborhood is invited to 11 o’clock Mass followed by a reception in the newly renovated Church Hall. Archbishop John L May will lead the celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of St. Roch’s Parish.
The pastors of Grace Methodist and Delmar Baptist Churches will take part in the ceremonies and the celebration along with as many of their congregations who wish to come.
By the time you read this article you will have already seen the banners along Waterman Avenue announcing the anniversary.
The planning has been underway since June. Discussions began with the Alderman and other area leaders a year ago.
The Archbishop was contacted last fall to reserve the date on his calendar.
The celebration is modest, free, and open to the entire neighborhood. St. Roch was founded from its neighboring western parish, All Saints, in 1911.
The first Mass was celebrated on September 17,1911, in a small store at 6008 Kingsbury Avenue.
There were only eighteen families on the parish roster at that time.
The newly appointed pastor, Father George P. Kuhlman, had come to St. Roch’s from St. Joseph’s Parish in Louisiana, Missouri.
When Fr. Kuhlman came, there was no name for the parish.
A fund-raising competition was held and the name of St. Roch was the highest bidder.
In that way, the parish became one of the few in St. Louis named for a canonized layman. Ten years after its first Mass, the cornerstone for the church was laid on September 21, 1921. Designed by Lee and Rush, architects who had previously worked on Holy Trinity Church in the Bremen area of North St. Louis, the church is in the Tudor Gothic tradition. More accurately termed Flemish Gothic, its closest analogue is a guild hall in Bruges, Flanders.
The chairman of the building committee in 1921 was Luke E. Hart.
The first associate pastor of St. Roch’s was Father James Downes, appointed in 1916.
In 1918, the school had one hundred and twenty students. Fr. Downes chartered Boy Scout Troop 98 in 1920 and acted as scoutmaster until he left the parish in the spring of 1922. Girl Scout Troop 104 was begun ten years later by Lucille Vehslege, one of the faculty members, and Gerry Jones. Miss Jones later married John Fox and still lives in the parish.
In the summer of 1922, Fr. Kuhlman began to make the arrangements for the dedication of the new church in November. Archbishop Glennon was scheduled to be present.
But in August 1922, Fr. Kuhlman died after a short illness.
It was something of a shock to the parish and the neighborhood.
The Archbishop named Father John F. Spencer from Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia, Missouri, as the new pastor.
He arrived in October and remained until he died in 1950, 38 years later.
The dedication went on as scheduled on November 30,1922. Fr. Joseph Cruse, a cousin of Fr. Kuhlman from Nativity Parish, said the Mass in the presence of the Archbishop; Bishop C.E. Byrne of Galveston, Texas, preached the sermon.
When Msgr. Spencer died in 1950, he was replaced by Father Sylvester Tucker.
It was Fr. Tucker who secured the bells for St. Roch’s and had the system installed in 1955. Fr. Tucker died of a heart attack in Wichita, Kansas, in 1957. Msgr. Bernard O’Flynn became pastor of St. Roch’s in the summer of 1957.
He had formerly been pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church. Msgr. O’Flynn secured land east of the school and tore down two apartment buildings to make room for an addition to the school.
Before he could start construction, he was moved to Little Flower Parish in 1962. Msgr. Robert M. Peet arrived that same year as the new pastor. Construction of the new school building began in 1963 with a ground breaking presided over in part by Michael Joseph Hart as representative of the Parkview Association.
He was the nephew of Luke Hart who chaired the building committee in 1921.
The period of the 1960’s saw a dramatic change in the neighborhood and increased involvement by the associate pastors in neighborhood organizations. Both Fr. Russell Kendrick and Fr. Edmund Griesedieck were instrumental in solidifying neighborhood connections. Fr. Griesedieck was particularly important in the founding of the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council and Westend Town House Corporation. St. Roch continues to support the Council with its annual funding rate unchanged since it pledged to do so.
By the middle of the 1970’s, the St. Roch’s neighborhood had weathered a substantial change.
The number of families in the parish had declined sharply but had reached a certain core level which kept the parish and the neighborhood together.
It is impossible to detail this work, and Msgr. Peet deserves a great deal of the credit for the activities of his associates and the parishioners.
When he retired in late 1980, he was respected and loved by everyone. Father Salvatore Polizzi (named a Monsignor this past summer) became pastor in early 1981 and began a program of growth and renovation.
The number of families has doubled in the past five years.
The church and school buildings have been cleaned, painted, replumbed, and rejuvenated.
This process is still continuing with the completion of the church hall this September. New boilers and a new heating system are about to be implemented by the building committee under Jack Flynn.
The finance committee under Mike Burke instituted a new fiscal year program two years ago which the Archdiocese is imitating beginning this year.
The electrical systems are under examination and about to be updated this fall.
The church has been carpeted, the pews removed and cleaned and returned to a newly tiled floor, and the vestibule doors have been cleaned and repaired.
The marble has been regrouted and polished. Msgr. Polizzi has also held two very successful fund raising events in addition to other numerous fund raising efforts. Parishioners are involved in numerous, committees and neighborhood programs.
The celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of St. Roch’s will bring back to the parish many of the priests associated here over the years. Father Robert Samson is the present associate. Others not mentioned already were Fathers Michael Campbell, Paul Kaletta, James Holland, Daniel Leahy, William Lyons, Robert Dwyer, Joseph Schejbal, John Phelan, George Lodes, John Flood, James Beggan, and William Glynn.
All of the neighborhood is invited to Mass and the reception on Sunday, September 14, 1986, to celebrate these past seventy-five years.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September 1986.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Source says Father Spencer arrived in 1922 and died in 1950 “38 years later”; printed duration conflicts with dates. Retained for editorial review.
Original source: SD_Times1986_09.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 3.
