History
Background
America was quickly growing. Historians later would document that this century would see a greater number of new developments and more drastic changes that were seen in all the time before it. And Allentown was part of that growth. By 1928 the population had begun to outdistance the available housing in the center of the city and slowly but steadily the blue collar populace began to develop new areas. The popular mode of transportation was a trolley that ran between Bethlehem and Allentown, along Susquehanna Street. This trolley would enable people who lived too far away from the Church to attend. With the population growth and the trolley, it became very obvious that a church was needed in the South Side of Allentown.
The Early Days
St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church was founded as a mission of Sacred Heart Church, Allentown, on October 12, 1927, by Monsignor Fink. The old Aineyville public school at 1110 South Front Street was purchased for $18,000. It required extensive renovation, including digging out a cellar for a new heating system, all of which was done by parishioners. For the next twenty years the former school served as the center for all parish activities. The first floor was the parish hall; one wing of the second floor was the rectory and the other wing, the church. The first Mass was held in the chapel on November, 1927.
On June 13, 1928, St. Paul’s was established as a canonical parish by Cardinal Dougherty. The Reverend Frederick A. Fasig was its first pastor. The new parish embraced all Catholics living in the area from the Little Lehigh River to Summit Lawn and South Tenth Street to Gaugh’s Hill.
The Reverend Bruno G Zeitsch, ordained in 1924 and previously assistant pastor at four other parishes, was appointed to succeed Father Fasig on November 25, 1932. It was a bleak time, mid-depression, but the parish was an institution dependent on faith, not financial charts. Father Zietsch, who at times during the depression had to depend on an invitation from a parishioner for his evening meal, even managed some improvements to the buildings and grounds at 1110 South Front Street. Although an administrator would take over many of the practical chores of running the parish in 1969, Father Zietsch remained pastor until 1973. For about a dozen years the parish continued to grow quietly and then, in the summer of 1945, the people took the first large step toward the building of St Paul’s as we know it today. A six acre parcel of land, formerly known as the Edgemont Ball Park was purchased from the William H Ainey estate for $9.75. A remarkable ambitious building program that would span the next ten years was launched.
With the purchase of the Ainey tract, things began to happen quickly. George E Yundt III, parishioner, architect and registered engineer drew up plans for a new church-school combination of modified Romanesque design. Ground was broken for the basement Church portion on November 30, 1947, by Monsignor Fink before a crowd of more than five-hundred parishioners. Cornerstone laying and dedication for the $50,000 building was held August 22, 1948. The temporary church held six-hundred people and the first Masses were said on Palm Sunday, April 10, 1949. The parish now included three-hundred and sixty families representing more than twelve hundred people.
Next came the rectory, completed in 1952. Soon after that, work began in 1953 on a $200,000 addition to the church-school building. The new second and third floors ultimately would house eight classrooms, convent quarters and medical and administrative offices. The new school-convent opened in September 1954, and the Most Reverend John F O’Hara, new arch bishop of Philadelphia spoke at the dedication ceremony. St Paul’s school was the seventh parochial school to open in Allentown. Five Sisters of Mercy taught a total of two hundred twenty seven children under Principal Sister Francis Clare.
In the fall of 1957, a new convent was completed. The portion of the third floor in the school previously used as living quarters by the Sisters was now opened up for much needed class room space. By 1964 the school reached its peak enrollment of six hundred and forty six pupils and was staffed by seven sisters of Mercy and six lay teachers. The principal at the time was Sister Mary Esther.
The Reverend Henry E Strassner, ordained in 1947, succeeded Father Zietsch as pastor in 1973. He was, as are other pastors, an administrator of the first order, but his manner of concern for the spiritual needs of his church members added an exciting dimension to that ministry. By the time Father Strassner finished his first year St Paul’s parish increased to more than twelve hundred families. Consequently new plans for a bigger church would develop. This time it would serve as a symbol of the new pastor’s approach to ministry — simple and daring.
The new church, another design of the firm of George E Yundt III, is circular in form and contains a system of pews radiating on a slight slope from a central altar. The reredos, featuring the Risen Christ against a huge sunburst, makes a dramatic statement of the lordship of Jesus over the parish and reminds all that the parish patron, St Paul, showed in his letters a deep preoccupation with the resurrection of Jesus.
The first mass was celebrated in the new church on September 11, 1971. The church and the parochial school were formally dedicated on October 15, 1972.
