St. Michael's Church
Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Founded by Ukrainian immigrants in 1884, St. Michael's was the first church of the Greek Catholic Rite in America. Present church edifice, of the Byzantine style, was erected in 1983.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Founded in 1884 by Ukrainian immigrants drawn to the anthracite coal region, St. Michael's was the first church of the Greek Catholic (Byzantine) Rite in America. The present Byzantine-style edifice was raised in 1983, but the parish itself dates to the great wave of Eastern European migration that peopled Pennsylvania's coal towns. It stands as a founding institution of Ukrainian and Eastern Rite Catholic life in the United States.
Why it matters
It marks the birthplace of Eastern Rite Catholicism in America, a reminder of how immigrant miners brought their faith and traditions to the coalfields of Pennsylvania.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Little Lithuania, USA
Shenandoah, PA · est. 2013
Since the late 1800s, the coal fields around Shenandoah drew Lithuanian immigrants in such numbers that Schuylkill County holds the greatest concentration of Lithuanian ancestry in the United States. Lured by work in the anthracite mines, they built churches, societies, and one of the nation's oldest Knights of Lithuania chapters to preserve their language and faith. The Rev. Andrius Stupinskas, who led one of the first Lithuanian American Catholic congregations in 1872, rests in the local St. George cemetery.
Father Walter J. Ciszek Birthplace and Boyhood Home
Shenandoah, PA
This Shenandoah site marks the birthplace and boyhood home of Father Walter J. Ciszek, born here in 1904 to Polish immigrants in the heart of Pennsylvania's anthracite country. He became a Jesuit priest and spent roughly two decades imprisoned in the Soviet Union, much of it in Siberian labor camps, before returning to the United States. His later writings on faith and endurance made him a candidate for sainthood.
Ashland Boys' Association
Ashland, PA · est. 2013
Ashland sat at the heart of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal country, but as the 19th century waned, vanishing jobs scattered its young men across the country in search of work. Their deep loyalty to home gave rise around 1900 to the Ashland Boys' Association, whose Labor Day homecomings drew the far-flung faithful back each year until 1976. During the Great Depression the A.B.A. even raised money for the WPA-built Mothers' Memorial, turning hometown affection into civic good.
Molly Maguire Executions
Pottsville, PA · est. 2006
On June 21, 1877—a day remembered in the anthracite region as 'Black Thursday'—six Irish immigrant mineworkers accused of belonging to the secret society known as the Molly Maguires were hanged here, with four more executed the same day at Mauch Chunk. The convictions rested largely on the testimony of Pinkerton detective James McParlan, who had infiltrated the coalfields on behalf of powerful mining and railroad interests. To this day historians debate the guilt of the accused, the fairness of the trials, and even whether the organization truly existed.