Paroisse Sacre- Coeur
Bishop Peter Francis Crinnon would be proud.
When the Bishop visited Georgetown's first Catholic church on Main Street South in 1874, he "was so offended by the condition of the frame church he did not enter," according to a Town of Halton Hills staff report.
Bishop Crinnon's stinging critique of the church spurred the congregation to build a replacement. At a cost of $4,000, the stone Holy Cross Church was built near the corner of Guelph and Mill streets and completed in 1885.
Nearly a century and a half later, the church - now Paroisse Sacre-Coeur - still stands at 33-39 Guelph St.
The Gothic Revival church was designed by architect Joseph Connolly, who was responsible for approximately 30 churches across Ontario, including Guelph's Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.
Between 1929 and 1941, stained glass windows and a bell were added to the church and a basement was excavated.
After the Holy Cross congregation outgrew the church, a new church was built on Maple Avenue and opened in 1965. The Guelph Street church was rededicated as the L'Église Sacré-Coeur, serving approximately 150 French-speaking Catholic families.
The local French-speaking community grew after Father Clovis Beauregard moved his training school for orphaned boys to Georgetown in 1947. His niece, Therese St. Jean, continued the school following his death in 1950.
The staff report says the church "features a large rose window with decorative wooden tracery, with a smaller decorative quatrefoil window opening above the central entrance, contributing to a high degree of craftsmanship."
When the Bishop visited Georgetown's first Catholic church on Main Street South in 1874, he "was so offended by the condition of the frame church he did not enter," according to a Town of Halton Hills staff report.
Bishop Crinnon's stinging critique of the church spurred the congregation to build a replacement. At a cost of $4,000, the stone Holy Cross Church was built near the corner of Guelph and Mill streets and completed in 1885.
Nearly a century and a half later, the church - now Paroisse Sacre-Coeur - still stands at 33-39 Guelph St.
The Gothic Revival church was designed by architect Joseph Connolly, who was responsible for approximately 30 churches across Ontario, including Guelph's Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.
Between 1929 and 1941, stained glass windows and a bell were added to the church and a basement was excavated.
After the Holy Cross congregation outgrew the church, a new church was built on Maple Avenue and opened in 1965. The Guelph Street church was rededicated as the L'Église Sacré-Coeur, serving approximately 150 French-speaking Catholic families.
The local French-speaking community grew after Father Clovis Beauregard moved his training school for orphaned boys to Georgetown in 1947. His niece, Therese St. Jean, continued the school following his death in 1950.
The staff report says the church "features a large rose window with decorative wooden tracery, with a smaller decorative quatrefoil window opening above the central entrance, contributing to a high degree of craftsmanship."