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| St. John the Baptist Church, 1953 |
St. John the Baptist, Lawrenceville
St. John the Baptist was established in 1878. In that year, the bishop decided that there was a need for a new parish located between St. Patrick in the Strip District and St. Mary in Lawrenceville to meet the needs of a growing Catholic community. Work on a combined church and school building began that year. The cornerstone was laid on October 20, 1878. The completed church was dedicated on June 8, 1879. The first floor of the building served as the church and the second floor as the school.
The parish continued to grow and it soon needed a new church. Additional land was purchased in 1901 and work on a new church began the next year. The cornerstone was laid on June 1, 1902, and the completed church was dedicated on August 30, 1903. The old church was converted into classrooms. Four years later the original church building was sold.
The church continued to serve the congregation for nine decades. However, during that time, the population of the city declined greatly. By 1993, the city was no longer able to support the number of independent parishes in the Lawrenceville area. In that year St. John the Baptist merged with three other parishes to form the new Our Lady of the Angels parish. St. John the Baptist Church was closed and sold to a private concern which turned it into a restaurant.
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| St. John the Baptist Church, 1953 |
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