It was once called The Maples, back before it became the Sacred Heart Church rectory. The North Attleboro church was built in 1904 and the parish purchased the three-story Victorian home from a doctor three years later. It was a lovely building sitting among tall trees — chestnuts and maples, naturally — over 55 years ago when I was a kid attending the nearby Sacred Heart School.
The parish’s three priests lived there then, and maybe a housekeeper. I only went inside a few times, just inside the door, but I remember a grand staircase with an impressive railing. But then, last week, the rectory was demolished.
The building had been vacant for 13 years, a reflection on the changes in the Catholic Church. Instead of three priests for each parish, one priest, the Rev. David Costa, serves all three North Attleboro’s parishes as the number of clergy decreases.
The parish needs a larger playground for the approximately 225 students at St. Mary’s-Sacred Heart School, and the plan is to have that in place before classes begin next month, Costa said in an interview with North TV. The safety of the aging structure was the first consideration.
“(The demolition was) for a number of reasons, safety first, safety for our kids and the neighborhood,” Costa said. Planning for it began about a year ago and included a tour by the town’s historical commission to see what, if anything, was salvageable. The Church Street building itself had fallen into disrepair, and much of the interior had changed drastically since the days when it was known as The Maples, Costa said.
Tiles or carpeting — even shag carpeting — had been placed over hardwood floors, and walls had been paneled. But the historical commission members were able to salvage a number of pieces, Costa said, including a beautiful, etched glass door and a marble mantle. They also discovered a dazzling painted glass window hidden by a dropped ceiling.
Best of all, the impressive railing was saved and will be installed in the church, he said. Razing the building must have been a difficult decision for the Diocese of Fall River, and especially for the parishioners. Sacred Heart parish was established in 1904 to serve the French-Canadian families who moved to North Attleboro in the 19th century to work in the many jewelry factories that dominated the town.
Those must have been thriving times for Sacred Heart (or “Sacre Coeur” as it was known by the early French-speaking parishioners). Less than two decades after constructing a grand brick church and 16 years after buying the rectory, Sacred Heart School was opened. Sacred Heart chose the Sisters of the Holy Union to staff the school, and Mother Adrienne Cecile was appointed the first principal.
Sacred Heart School held its first classes in September 1923 with 211 students in grades 1 through 5. On Oct. 28, 1923, with five sisters present, the parish dedicated its 57 Richards Ave.
, school with Bishop Daniel Feehan of the Diocese of Fall River officiating at the Mass. By the early 1970s, enrollment was down, and Sacred Heart School was struggling financially. The same must have been true at St.
Mary’s School so, even though there was a bit of a rivalry between the two parishes, they merged the schools in 1972. St. Mary’s was the larger of the two schools, so classes were held there, and Sacred Heart’s building on Richards Avenue was leased to the town.
The staffs were also merged, so there was the unusual experience of having nuns from two different orders working side by side. Holy Union sisters, for instance, wore much more traditional habits than the Sisters of Mercy. A Holy Union nun, Sister Jeanne Poirier, was named the first principal.
Economic reasons were also cited in April 1981 when it was announced that the school was moving back to Sacred Heart’s Richards Avenue building. The St. Mary’s property on Broad Street was sold and converted into condominiums.
And now, Sacred Heart’s rectory is no more, another reflection of the changing times in North Attleboro and in the Catholic Church..
