The Church of the Immaculate Conception is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of the

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the New York (state), State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York ...

located in Tuckahoe, New York. Founded in 1853, the parish is dedicated to the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. Following a merger, the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

was reorganized as the parish of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Our Lady, including the respective two churches.

History

The Church of the Immaculate Conception was created as a mission of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in

New Rochelle New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the 7th-largest city and 2 ...

in 1853 under the

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

ship of Fr. Thomas McLoughlin by order of the Archbishop of New York,

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. Though not yet an official parish or mission, mass was said regularly by Fr. Eugene Maguire from St. Raymond's Church in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

in the colonial-era Marble House that lies across NYS Route 22. By virtue of its founding date, the Church of the Immaculate Conception is the oldest Catholic church in Eastchester (the town in which the village of Tuckahoe is located) and one of the oldest in

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

, as well as one of the oldest institutions of any kind in Eastchester. With a growing Irish, Italian, German, and Lithuanian population of Catholics in the

Bronxville Bronxville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the Adminis ...

area of Eastchester (the area not yet incorporated into a village), as well as the neighboring communities in Eastchester and Yonkers, Immaculate Conception's priest, Fr. John G. McCormack with the assistance of Fr. Joseph L. McCann and Fr. Martin Lydon, established a mission in 1905 that would eventually become the Church of St. Joseph. Construction of a wooden church building began in Waverly Square and Archbishop

Michael Corrigan Michael Augustine Corrigan (August 13, 1839May 5, 1902) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third archbishop of New York from 1885 to 1902. Early life Michael Augustine Corrigan was born August 13, 1839, in N ...

deeded to the young parish the plot of land on which it sat in 1886, though it had initially been gifted to the Archdiocese of New York 32 years prior by a local Catholic quarryman. A

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

was subsequently added in 1885. The mission that was dedicated in the honor of the

was elevated to the rank of a parish in 1878 by Cardinal

John McCloskey John McCloskey (March 10, 1810 – October 10, 1885) was an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as the first American-born Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop of New York from 1864 until his ...

upon the visit and recommendation of the archdiocese's vicar general William Quinn. The parish's first pastor, Fr. John Ambrose Keogh, was appointed that year. The parish was incorporated on April 5, 1886, as "The Church of the Immaculate Conception in the Village of Tuckahoe, County of Westchester, N.Y." and lay trustees were appointed. IC Church 800

With the appointment of Fr. John G. McCormick as pastor, a new plot of land that would house the present-day French

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

church was purchased for $15,000, a price asked by the Catholic owners that was significantly lower than market value. The new building was designed by Thomas J. Duff and the cornerstone was laid on November 8, 1908, with a parade and ceremony attended by 5,000 locals. For lack of funds, parishioners, many of whom worked in the Tuckahoe quarries, helped to build the church part-time. The church was completed in 1911 with its dimensions measuring in length and in width. The stone façade was constructed from locally quarried

Tuckahoe marble Tuckahoe marble (also known as Inwood and Westchester marble) is a type of marble found in southern New York and western Connecticut in the Northeastern United States. Part of the Inwood Formation of the Manhattan Prong, it dates from the Late ...

. Stained glass windows were delivered from

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and the

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

of the old wooden church was disassembled and moved to the new church, where it remains today. The first

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

was celebrated August 20, 1911 and the building was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

the following year on May 18 by Msgr. Patrick J. Hayes. At the time of consecration, around 900 Catholics were parishioners of the church. Over time, adjacent properties were acquired, on which the present-day school building and other facilities were constructed. This new church building was quickly supplemented by the construction of the nearby Church of the Assumption as a national parish for the many new Italian immigrants. In 1912, the School of the Immaculate Conception was founded as a parochial elementary school in the no-longer-used wooden church building approximately a mile away, and by the following year was staffed by

religious sisters A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and lab ...

. By 1914, the enrollment in the school had reached 75 students who were instructed by a lay teacher along with the sisters. A new School of the Immaculate Conception was later built in its current location abutting the church, and the former building was demolished. The

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...

established a Tuckahoe Council in 1920 and operate out of the Immaculate Conception parish. In 2014, the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, announced that the nearby parish of the Church of the Assumption would be merged with the Church of the Immaculate Conception as part of larger archdiocese-wide mergers.

References

External links

* {{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York Roman Catholic churches in New York (state) Churches in Westchester County, New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Religious organizations established in 1853 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1911 Gothic Revival church buildings in New York (state) 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States