Saint Michael, New Castle

Parish History

St. Michael was founded as a Slovak ethnic parish in 1910.  The creation of the parish can be traced to the growth of Slovak immigrants to work in the mills in New Castle beginning in the late nineteenth century.  By 1908, the Slovak community had grown to the point that they began to collect funds for a new church.  In that same year, St. Joseph parish, New Castle began celebrating a special Mass for the Slovak community twice a month.  In 1909 land was purchased for a church and on September 19, 1910 ground was broken and  the cornerstone was laid on October 10, 1910.

This church served the community for over 50 years.  By the mid-1960's, the condition of the church had deteriorated to the point that a new building was needed.  The new church was built and dedicated on April 30, 1967.

As the rise of population at the beginning of the twentieth century led to the creation of the parish, the drop in population at the end of the century led to the suppression of the parish.  By the early 1990's it became obvious that the population of New Castle could no longer support the number of independent parishes then in the city.  In 1993, St. Michael was merged with four other parishes to create the new St. Vincent de Paul parish.  At first St. Michael remained open and served the new parish.  However, by the turn of the century it became obvious that the parish could no longer support four church buildings.  On September 8, 2007, the diocese gave the parish permission to close the church.  On September 23, the parish held a final prayer service in the church.