HISTORY

THE OLDEST POLISH ROMAN-CATHOLIC PARISH

The Church of St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr is home to the oldest Polish Roman Catholic parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, It is located at 101 East 7th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

The beginnings of this only Polish Roman – Catholic parish in Manhattan go back to 1872.

Two years in 1874 later the first wooden church was built at 318 Henry Street. The second location was the Dutch Reformed Church (1845) then adapted for the Catholic church at 43 Stanton street which was used until moving to its current location in 1901.

The new church was consecrated by Archbishop M.A. Corrigan and Bishop J.M. Farley on May 19, 1901. A special feature of the New York Times in 1901, mentioned the church, described simply as “the Polish church,” among other Catholic structures in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, describing the group “for the most part…limit[ing] themselves to the functions of a parish church, in districts where social needs are otherwise supplied,” without comment on other facilities attached.

The parish is staffed by the Pauline Fathers (Order of St. Paul the First Hermit). One of its rectors was the Rev. Francis Mylanarski, who served in the armed forces as a chaplain before being transferred to St. Adelbert’s Church (Bronx, New York) in 1919.

The church was built 1900-1901 to the designs of Arthur Arctander. A three-story brick and stone parish school and dwelling house at 104-106 Saint Mark’s Place was built in 1907 to designs of Arthur Arctander of 523 Bergen Avenue, the Bronx for $30,000.