Robbinsdale Parish Starts Church Drive
Sacred Heart Catholic parish in Robbinsdale today started drive to raise “in excess” of $40,000 for a new church and 8-room school addition. Constructed of Mankato stone, the new church will be situated on the corner of Hubbard and Forty-first avenues N., present site of the Elwood hotel. Both the hotel and a house next to it have been bought by the church, and will be moved to new locations. The school addition will consist of eight classrooms, two added this fall and six more before Sept. 1958. The new facilities give the church almost a square block of buildings in Robbinsdale.
The old church on the corner of Broadway and Fortieth and one-half avenue N. will probably be converted into a parish hall, according to Richard Kessler, director of the drive. The new church is needed, Kessler said, because the 1,200 families in the growing Robbinsdale parish overflow the church’s 450 seat capacity. The new church will seat 942. Money pledged in the drive will be paid over a 170-week period starting Sept. 1. “Construction will start as soon as possible,” Kessler said, with a completion goal of Christmas, 1958. The general campaign chairman is John Kudrna. The present church was built nearly 50 years ago as a mission of the Church of the Ascension. First resident pastor was Father W. H. Blum. He died in 1931 and was succeeded by Father Francis Nolan, present pastor.
-Minneapolis Star-August 1st, 1957
On Christmas Eve, 1958, Sacred Heart celebrated mass in their new church at 41st and Hubbard Avenues. The original church building was then used for recreation and classes until it was destroyed by fire in November of 1973.
The decade of the “fifties” became famous for the building of new churches. In addition to those previously mentioned, three more must be included. On May 4, 1958, Faith Lilac Way Lutheran Church dedicated its new building at Rockford Road and Welcome Avenue. Early services in the 1940’s had been held in the Masonic Temple.
Also, on January 11, 1959, after three years of holding services at Loring School in Minneapolis and twelve years in the chapel at France and Lake Drive Avenues, the congregation of Peace Lutheran Church finally moved into its new church. Ewald Hinck was pastor from 1944 until his retirement in 1979. Carleton Zahn succeeded him.
These home movies were shot by Father Francis Nolan during the construction of the new church. The film spent quite a few years in the attic of the Ambrose family it was retrieved and digitized by Dave Vos and David Krussow. Thanks, guys!
How interesting! I remember the church getting built, as a kid, with that steeple a cherry on top of the whole thing! Thanks for sharing!!