#N4-022
Ca. 1929
Mounted original gelatin silver print, ca. 16,5x21 cm (6 ½ x 8 ¼ in), mount ca. 25x30 cm (9 ¾ x 11 ¾ in). Slight soiling of the top edge of the mount, but otherwise good. “Br. Sw. S. Golden Jubilee. 1879-1929” scratched on the right bottom corner of the photo. Together with a pin “Double Jubilee Celebration. April 25-26, 1939” from the same church.
Historically important photograph of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in St. Louis, showing the parish at the entrance with a processional flag of Matka Boża Szkaplerzna (Our Lady of the Scapular) in the background.
The St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Downtown St. Louis was one of the earliest Polish churches in the USA, the first being Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny in Texas (1854). It was originally administered by the Franciscans and served as the mother church for three other Polish parishes: St. Casimir (1889), St. Hedwig (1904), and Our Lady of Czestochowa (1907). In 1928, the church was damaged by a fire that destroyed the center dome of the structure and almost all of the original interior decoration.
