Excerpts from a letter written by Jeremiah J. Collins to Msgr. Edward Lucitt, on the event of the 75th Anniversary of the church at Broadway and Ferry, in 1961:
Since I have been a parishioner for eighty-five years I thought it would be appropriate to review some historic events that occurred before and after 1886, which I think would be useful and interesting information to the present and future members of the Parish:
The history of the Parish began when a small frame Chapel was built and located at 9th and Van Hook Streets for several years before the present Church was built and services were held there on Sundays only, under the direction of the late Rev. Dean Fitzsimmons, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception until a pastor was appointed by the Most Rev. Bishop of the Diocese who appointed the late Rev. William Lynch as the. first Pastor of the Parish who started a campaign to raise funds to build the present church.
This review of the Parish would not be complete unless the names of the pioneers who founded the Parish were remembered and also the names of the early members who joined the pioneers in a united congregation after the church was built at Broadway and Ferry Avenue. I have compiled two lists of the Original members of the Parish, one lists the names of families who attended services at the Chapel at Ninth and Van Hook, the other lists the families who attended services at the Church at Broadway and Ferry Avenue after 1886. They all took an active interest in the welfare of the Parish and their generous efforts should be remembered. . . ."
| Hugh Greenan | Daniel Kelly | Bernard McCormick | John Higgins |
| William Greenan | John Kelly | Hugh Morgan | Hugh Weizst |
| Margaret Connolly | Patrick Quigley | Harry Tobin | Humphrey Toomey |
| William O'Rourke | Timothy Collins | William Chamberlain | Patrick Whalen |
| Michael Hendricks | Thomas Fogarty | James McManus | Mrs. Charles Lind |
| Charles Kelly | Michael Clark | Steve McKenna | Margaret Carr |
| Mrs. Louisa Brough | John King | John McKenna | Michael Reilly |