St. Anne Catholic Church

In addition to the article below, see the parish history articles in the Centennial Celebration section.

The History of St. Anne’s Church
The story of St. Anne’s Parish began in the spring of 1906 when a delegation of Queen Anne residents visited Bishop Edward O’Dea with a petition signed by 40 residents of the area requesting their own church. Bishop O’Dea instructed the Redemptorist Fathers at Sacred Heart Parish to work on this project. The parish would be named St. Anne’s. The Redemptorists acquired the property on the southeast corner of 2nd Ave. W. and W. Lee St. for a church. It was dedicated December 20, 1908.

For the first year and a half St. Anne’s was operated as a mission of Sacred Heart. However, on April 1, 1910 Bishop O’Dea appointed diocesan Father M. J. Woods as the new pastor of his own parish.

As the parish grew, a school was needed. The lots for the school were donated by the McDermott family and the pastor, Fr. James Dunne, had the plans drawn up by 1918. Construction was delayed until September, 1922, at which time Fr. Dunne was transferred and was replaced by Fr. Tomas Quain, who would remain pastor until he died in 1959.

New school and convent

The new school opened on September 4, 1923 under Sr. Superior Mary Christina and several sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The new convent opened in 1930 and a new parish hall and gymnasium in 1950. Fr. Quain was elevated to monsignor by Archbishop Thomas Connolly at a Mass celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest on June 18, 1958.

Fr. Quain had acquired three-quarters of the block across Lee Street and by the 1950s, as the parish grew, it was apparent that the 1908 church was too small. He had preliminary plans and drawings in his hands by June 1959 and he and the archbishop were reviewing them. Monsignor Quain died, however, on December 22, 1959 and it was up to the new pastor, Fr. Bernard Cremer, to complete the project. Archbishop Connolly dedicated the new church and rectory on May 19, 1963.

In 2001 a building campaign was mounted to remodel parts of the parish plant. In the summer of 2001 the 1950-built parish hall was demolished to make way for a new, larger parish hall and gymnasium with additional classrooms on a 3rd floor. The new building was ready in December of that same year. The parish school was also completely renovated. The last phase of the building program, to begin at a date yet to be determined, will remodel the church interior.