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Western Pennsylvania » Great Forest » McKean County » Port Allegany and Vicinity » St. Joseph's Episcopal Church

St. Joseph's Episcopal Church

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1887–1888. 116 E. Arnold St.

This Stick Style church would seem to have an earlier date based on its appearance, but it was built in the late 1880s by a local contractor named Groves. The steeply pitched hipped roof builds to a narrow spire. Side elevations have gabled wall dormers that are pierced by small circular windows inside ornamental frames. On the interior, a single aisle with seven pews on each side leads to a shallow transept now partially enclosed by the parish hall addition (1954) at the rear. One large and two small stained glass windows line the nave. An article from Sunday, July 22, 1888, in The Church News describing the first service in the church notes that information about the plan “will be given by the New York Building Plan Co., 160 Broadway, New York.” That business was run by architect Manly N. Cutter from 1888 to 1892. The surrounding neighborhood also has several distinctive frame houses from this time period.

Seven miles north, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church (1871; Newell Creek Road, off PA 446 at Sartwell) was constructed during the first days of the oil excitement and located in the middle of the great forest. It is basically a Greek Revival church with narrow-gauge wood siding and corner boards, heavy eaves returns, and a full cornice. Uncharacteristically, it also has lancet and rose windows, and a prominent cupola. Founded in 1842 by an Irish congregation, St. Mary's is the “mother church” for six other Roman Catholic parishes in McKean and Potter counties. A cemetery surrounds the church.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lu Donnelly et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Lynn Hall Estate
Smethport Historical Society (Sheriff's House and Jail)
McKean County Courthouse
St. Luke's Episcopal Church

Citation

Lu Donnelly et al., "St. Joseph's Episcopal Church", [Port Allegany, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-MK15.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 1

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 418-419.

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