Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

The growth of the Catholic populations as a whole, and the needs of the English speaking Irish and Lebanese populations in particular, gave rise to the creation of the new parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1906. Father John E. Kealy was appointed as the first pastor. The newly formed parish had no church building, so they celebrated mass at St. Francis on Sunday mornings. The first such mass took place on October 8, 1906. By June of 1907 a lot had been purchased on the corner of Pleasant and Gilman Streets for the construction of the new church. The decision was made to build the church only as funds permitted. The basement was completed in a matter of months and on January 27, 1908, the first mass was celebrated in the actual building.

The basement served as the place of worship for twenty-one years, until the church building was completed and dedicated on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1930. In 1948, the parish purchased Foss Hall, a building on College Avenue, from Colby College. In 1953, this renovated building was opened as the Sacred Heart School, administered by the Ursuline Sisters. By 1969, the school had ceased to operate as a parochial school, and became known as the Waterville Catholic Consolidated School. This school closed at the end of the 1973-74 school year. The building was sold to a local businessman in 1978.