St. Ann Roman Catholic Church

Saint Ann Roman Catholic Church is a closed Catholic church within the Archdiocese of Hartford in Connecticut.







German Catholics that first settled in northern New Haven County first attended Mass at St. Rose of Lima. 2 About 400 of those immigrants joined with French-Canadians in 1880 to establish St. Laurent Church.

It was not more than a few years before St. Laurent was near capacity. On December 8, 1889, German worshippers gathered in the basement of St. Laurent to plan the organization of the St. Ann parish. 2

Bishop Lawrence S. McMahon authorized St. Ann to form as an independent parish on March 12, 1890. 2 Father Ignatius Kost, who had served as a curate at St. Laurent for 19 months, was named the first pastor of the newly minted St. Ann Roman Catholic Church in December 1891.

A small wood-frame church was decided on December 6, 1891. 2 A school was added in September 1894 with 165 students supervised by a single lay teacher. The School Sisters of Notre Dame assumed teaching duties in 1896.

After outgrowing the original facility, Father Nicholas Schneider led the effort to purchase a lot for a bigger brick structure. 2 Bishop John J. Nilan blessed the cornerstone on October 27, 1912, and dedicated the new church sanctuary on October 19, 1913.

A new three-story school was dedicated on April 18, 1937, by Bishop Maurice F. McAuliffe. 2

St. Ann closed in 2017 after the Archdiocese of Hartford reduced the number of parishes from 212 to 127. 1 Of the 127 parishes, 68 remained as they were, while 59 merged into unions of two to six churches. St. Ann and nearby St. Laurent joined St. Joseph, Holy Angels, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel to form Our Lady Queen of Angels parish.

The church, its school, and rectory were listed for sale for $725,000 in January 2018. 1


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Sources

  1. Godin, Mary Ellen. “Two former Meriden Roman Catholic churches for sale.” Record-Journal [Meriden], 2 Feb. 2018.
  2. “St. Mary Church.” Archdiocese of Hartford. Article.

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