GROWTH OF YONKERS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN 1876, Sitting Bull and the Sioux defeated General Custer at Little Big Horn. In 1877 Samuel Tilden, former Governor of New York, retired to Yonkers (Untermeyer Estate) after losing the Presidency to Rutherford Hayes by a special electoral decision, called the Great Compromise. In 1878 Pope Leo XIII succeeded Pius IX. A year later Edison invented the first practical incandescent light bulb.
In 1877, Fr. Charles Corley came to St. Mary's at the age of twenty-nine. Although he did not officially become pastor until the former pastor, Fr. Slevin, died in 1878, he always dated his pastorate from 1877.
The nation was undergoing vast changes. It was the age both of the cowboy and of steel and steam. invention followed invention. The Industrial Revolution was reaching its peak and with it came the urbanization of America and a vast increase immigrant labor.
Yonkers was in an excellent position to take advantage of these opportunities. As early as 1649 Yonkers had used the energies of the Nepperhan and Hudson Rivers to build the first saw mills. Other industries came in the early 19th century: hats (1829), carpets (1846), rubber works (1852), elevators (1854) sugar refining (1862). The beautiful mansions that still exist today were built by men who made their fortune at this time: the Copcutt Mansion (the present rectory of St. Casimir's), the ninety-nine room Greystone (built by the hat manufacturer, John Waring, later the Untermeyer Estate) and the Trevor Mansion (now part of the Hudson River Museum).
Inventors found a home in Yonkers. The elevated railroad system, first used by New York City, was invented and created by Yonkers men. Otis, Smith, Eichemeyer, Hedley, and Armstrong head the list of distinguished inventors.
The need for cheap labor for the factories in Yonkers brought many immigrants to Yonkers. After the Irish, Scotch, and Germans, came the Poles, Jews, Italians, Russians and other Central and Eastern Europeans. They came and settled in their own distinct ethnic geographical communities. The population of Yonkers soared: 17,000 in 1872; 50,000 in 1909 and 100,000 in 1932.
At the time the new St. Mary's was being built, Yonkers was undergoing unprecedented growth. The dams in the center of the city were torn down and commerce began to thrive. The Getty Square Branch of the Hudson Railroad opened in 1887. St. Joseph's Hospital opened in 1890. The first electric trolley car on Riverdale began in 1892. Other Catholic parishes were being established: Sacred Heart (1891), St. Nicholas of Myra (1892), Most Holy Trinity (1894), St. Peter's (1894), St. Michael's (1895), St. Casimir's (1899), St. Anthony's (1900). By 1914 six more parishes and six schools had been created out of the original St. Mary's boundaries.
The defining characteristic of St. Mary's at this time was that it was an Irish parish. Records of baptisms, weddings and school attendance show that it was at least 90% Irish with the remainder German or Scotch. The parish was founded in 1848 at the same time that the potato famine hit Ireland. This disaster killed perhaps a million people and sent millions into exile. The first generation, the Irish born, had a very difficult time. They were mostly peasants with little training and few resources.
The Irish encountered additional difficulties because they were the first large non-Protestant group to enter the U.S.A. The fact that they settled in cities added to the fear and apprehension on the part of many Americans. Their loyalty was clear in the Civil War but the prejudice, although lessened, still existed. Their strengths were their religion, the ability to speak English and their political skills.
By the time the new church of St. Mary's was built, the Irish were beginning to dominate the Yonkers political system. The alumni of St. Mary's Boy's School included many of the most powerful political figures in Yonkers.
Since the Irish were mostly working class, they were often involved in the formation of the new labor unions, especially the Knights of Labor. In 1887 Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore, who was in Rome to receive the red hat, made a special plea to the Pope to prevent the condemnation of trade unions. To Rome these organizations looked too much like the secret societies of Europe that had been enemies of the Catholic Church.
In Yonkers in 1885 the Knights of Labor organized a group of men and women at the Alexander Smith Carpet Mill where 3,000 workers were employed. The owner fired the union leaders and the workers went on strike. When three of the women organizers, Ellen Tracy, Lizzie Wilson and Mary Carey, were jailed, thousands rallied throughout Yonkers in support. Management gave in, wages were increased and working conditions improved. It was a great victory for the union and the three women became celebrities. However, by 1890, the union was voted out because of troubles within the Knights of Labor and Smith's better treatment of the workers. But these nonviolent demonstrations were a major factor in convincing the American bishops that labor unions were a positive movement. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII in his historic encyclical "Rerum Novarum" gave the blessings of the Catholic Church to the formation of unions.
Many of the Irish kept a keen interest in their homeland and were often involved in the struggle to free Ireland from England. This was the time of the so-called "land war" (1879-82), the greatest mass movement of modern Ireland up to that time, and the rise and fall of the great Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell.
"Rum, Romanism and Rebellion" was the slogan used against the Democratic Party in the 1880's but it was obviously aimed at the Irish.
Because they were often in competition with other ethnic and racial groups who were brought in by employers to work for lower wages, the Irish could be intolerant. However, in many ways, the Irish, as the first "different" immigrant group, took the first blows of American prejudice and fought back, easing the way for future immigrants. That prejudice still existed is clear by the rise in 1894 of the anti-Catholic American Protective Association, claiming a million members. In addition to the Irish they were now attacking the "beaten races": the Greek, the Pole, the Serb, the Hungarian and the Italian.
Irish priests, by their sheer numbers, dominated the American Catholic Church.
Although St. Mary's was predominantly Irish there were other ethnic groups as well, especially Germans and Scots. Fr. Albert A. Lings, born in 1844 in Baden (soon to be part of the new Germany), had been an associate at St. Mary's from 1857 until he became pastor of the second Catholic Church of Yonkers, St. Joseph's, in 1871. Two German names appear as donors of the stained glass windows: Blatzheim and Imhoff. St. Boniface the Apostle to Germany, was chosen as one of the figures in the smaller stained glass windows.
The Germans, fleeing the Revolutions of 1848 and Bismarck's attack on Catholics in the newly formed Germany, came to America at the same time as the Irish but with greater resources and better education. Since their numbers were never great in Yonkers, they do not seem to have been involved in the controversy, called Cahenslyism, which in 1891 arose in many German parishes in the Midwest. Under the slogan "Language Saves the Faith," these German parishes resisted strongly any attempt to weaken their attachment to German language and culture. They especially resented the domination of the Catholic hierarchy by the Irish.
The Germans in Yonkers must have found St. Mary's parish hospitable because their numbers continued to grow well into the 1920's. Perhaps it was Fr. Corley who made them feel at home. We know he visited Germany in 1891 to buy the stained glass windows for the new church.
The names of all the other donors on the windows are Irish. The stained glass windows also give us an insight into how the parish was organized through the lay societies, e.g., Sodality of the Immaculate Heart, League of the Sacred Heart, Rosary Society, Holy Name Society, Children of Mary. Although not on the windows, we know there were many kinds of Temperance Societies in the parish. These societies and devotional confraternities defined a Catholic parish at this time.
The parish was not only the religious and educational center but the social center as well. Drama groups often put on shows to entertain the community. Youngsters met, often married one another, and joined the adult clubs or societies. It was a place where new immigrants could feel at home and learn the new American ways. Despite the fears of men like Thomas Jefferson, these parishes became great centers of assimilation into American life.
The school was the crowning glory of St. Mary's parish. The affection of the parishioners towards the Sisters of Charity can be seen in the dedication of the new St. Joseph's altar to Sr. Mary Magdalena White. She had been principal at the school since 1878 and had died in 1890. Sr. Agnes Loyola, the principal in 1892, served at St. Mary's for forty-two years. The Sisters of Charity taught all the girls and the younger boys up to the fourth grade.
The Christian Brothers were especially respected by parents. Discipline and a quality education were equally desired for their sons. Although there were only eight grades, many of those who graduated were fifteen and sixteen years old. The school grew from 375 when Corley arrived in 1877 to 1,300 in 1903. Classroom size at times was over seventy students but graduating classes never seemed to be over forty. Apparently many, out of economic necessity, left school to go to work. Since families could not afford to keep their children out of the job market, few sent their children to high school. Tuition was free but there were fees for books.
The reputation of St. Mary's School was so high that many had to be turned down for admission. The following is taken from a church bulletin in 1907: "The pressure for admission is great and it was found necessary to refuse many. Italians and Poles were not accepted as they have churches of their own and should provide for their own children. St. Mary's school is supported by St. Mary's Church and children of the church must be provided for first." What was really being said? At first it looks like discrimination was being practiced against the Italians and Poles but another interpretation is quite possible.
The relationship with St. Casimir's, a Polish national parish (one that serves the Polish people wherever they may live), throws some light on the question.
Founded as a parish in 1899, the pastor lived at St. Mary's and said Mass in Polish in St. Mary's Chapel until a church was built in 1902. The school opened in 1906 and was staffed by the Sisters of the Resurrection in 1907. Rather than being discriminatory against the Poles, the above statement may have come at the urging of the pastor, Father Dworzak, so that Polish children would come to his new school.
Although there were two associates, Frs. Andrew O'Reilly (1874-1908) and John Fullam (1898-1912), who remained at St. Mary's for many years, there is no doubt that the dominant person was the pastor of St. Mary's, Fr. Charles Corley. Intensely loyal to their priests, the Irish expected their pastors to act like "Lords of the Manor" and they often did. Extended vacations in Europe and the Holy Land were concluded with the school children lining St. Mary's Street welcoming the returning pastor. Every anniversary of his priesthood was celebrated with great dinners and gifts. That Fr. Corley was wise enough to use these occasions to raise money for the parish (altar: 1896, organ: 1906, bells: 1911) was an indication of his shrewd administrative abilities.
In 1904 Fr. Corley suffered an illness that would remain with him until his death in 1914. He was an irremovable pastor which gave him the right to have a voice in the choosing of the Bishop. In 1908 he received an honorary doctorate from Manhattan College and became a Monsignor in 1911.
Mrs. Magilton, daughter of one of the Duffy brothers, stone masons who helped build the new church, remembers Fr. Corley coming to visit her house for tea. Her mother used to iron the cassocks for the priests. She remembered him as a "very lovely man." She believed that her oldest sister was the second person baptized in the new church (actually the tenth).
Fr. Corley spoke in Protestant churches and was well respected by the Protestant clergy. He and Dr. Cole, pastor of the First Reformed Church on South Broadway, were friends. Both were pastors in Yonkers for many years and both built Richardsonian Romanesque churches around the same time. While St. Mary's would last to see its 100th anniversary, the First Reformed Church would be sold and turned into the Strand Theater.
Next Chapter