St. Joseph's Catholic Church - 1889 - Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
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T0SHEA
N 44° 22.718 W 064° 31.317
20T E 378757 N 4915054
Now over 125 years old, St. Joseph's is actually the second oldest in the town, Holy Trinity Anglican being over 30 years older than St. Joseph's.
Waymark Code: WMX7MX
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Date Posted: 12/08/2017
Views: 0
One of two original churches in the town of Bridgewater (Holy Trinity Anglican Church was built beginning in 1854 and again in 1856 after the frame was blown down), St. Joseph's was consecrated on April 12, 1889. Saint Joseph's Parish Centre, next door to the church, if the home of Bridgewater Council 6417 of the Knights of Columbus. Both church and parish hall stand on the south side of Pleasant Street, a block south of the LeHave River on the south side of Bridgewater.
The church is an interesting building, Gothic or Gothic Revival in style, with buttressed sidewalls on the nave, the centre section of which has a steeply pitched gable roof. On each side are full length extensions with more shallowly pitched roofs.
At the front left corner of the building is the bell tower and steeple. The square tower is stepped in about midway, the upper half being the belfry, with Gothic arched vents, while the lower half has heavy buttresses at the corners. Resting on the belfry is an octagonal steeple with no taper, leading straight up to a low pitched roof with a wooden cross atop. At one time each of the eight corners of the steeple supported a small spire (or very large finial) and all the detail work on the church was painted in a contrasting colour. This would have been a very striking building in years past (See the old photo below). Sadly both the finials and the contrasting colours are now gone, leaving this only an interesting church.
This is still an active church, holding Saturday and Sunday masses at 7 PM and 11 AM, respectively.
At the front of the church is a granite plaque describing the circumstances of the first Catholic Chapel in Bridgetown, begun in a private home in the 1850s. The text from that plaque follows.
FIRST CHAPEL
THESE STONES TAKEN FROM
THE FOUNDATION OF THE
"TOBIN HOUSE" LOCATED ON
VICTORIA ROAD AT BAKER
STREET ARE DEDICATED TO
THE MOMORY OF THOSE
CATHOLICS WHO WORSHIPED
THERE.
OWNED BY JOHN AND MARY
TOBIN, A CHAPEL IN THE
HOUSE WAS THE FIRST PLACE
OF WORSHIP FOR
CATHOLICS IN BRIDGEWATER
AND WAS USED OVER 30 YEARS
PRIOR TO THE BUILDING OF
ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH IN 1889.