Holy Family Parish was opened on Sunday, January 27, 1962, by Archbishop O’Sullivan.
Modernistic in design, the church has a laminated arch construction, with the arches
completely exposed inside the building. Finished in a lightly stained fir, these arches give a
pillared effect to the interior side walls which, like the ceiling are of thick cedar planking. A
stone background fourteen feet wide rises behind the altar to the roof peak where a skylight
provides natural lighting of the altar. On the outside, the gable roof extends to within eight
feet of the ground on either side of the building. The exterior side walls are of colorful natural
fieldstone. The front of the church is finished in cedar siding both inside and outside. A tall,
peaked window rises above a canopy that protects the main entrance. The building houses
dual sacristies and a baptistery with a recessed floor.
The church was designed to accommodate 300 persons and was constructed to allow
enlargement through the addition of a balcony or by extension toward Weller Avenue. An
unusual feature of the church is the structural steel tower which served as a chimney for the
gas-fired heating system. The free-standing tower, similar to a campanile is decorative in
design and topped by a single cross.
The Sisters of Providence, through their dedicated work in the school, provided much of the
the basis for the parish.
Pastors since 1962