The Founding of St. Sebastian's

A local newspaper serving Woodside at that time
recorded that on Sunday, April 22, 1894, "a largely at-
tended meeting was held in Ariel Hall. . .and a commit-
tee was appointed to enter into negotiations with real
estate owners to procure an available site" and "to confer
with Bishop Me Donnell in relation to obtaining a
priest." In May, Bishop Charles Me Donnell of Brook-
lyn established the parish of St. Sebastian and asked the
pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in Long Island City, the
Rev. William Mc Guirl, to celebrate Mass in Woodside
periodically until the appointment of the first resident
pastor. The following October, Fr. Edward Gannon was
named pastor and celebrated the first Masses in Ariel
Hall on today's 56 Street, near Woodside Avenue.

Masses were also offered in the Woodside volunteer
Hook and Ladder Company #3 House on 39 Avenue,
which later served as the American Legion Hall and is
now a Korean church. He later rented a large, hexagonal
room for services in the home of Mrs. Anne Collins,
also on 56 Street, where many baptisms were performed.
Fr. Gannon was 35 years old at this time and found in
the parish 53 Catholic families comprising 350 individual
souls, a figure thought to be about one-half the popula-
tion of the village, comprising mostly German and Irish
people. The Newtown Register of October 4, 1894 an-
nounced that Fr. Gannon would celebrate Mass every
Sunday, at 8:00 and 10:00 A.M., with a High Mass
every first Sunday at 10:00 A.M.

Fr. Gannon faced a difficult task. In his own words:

At the commencement, the aspect of
things was not very bright. There was
no building site, no church, no house,
and, what was most deplorable, no mo-
ney. That God has blessed the work is
evident from the fact that, after months
of toil, $11,400 has been collected, a
building site has been bought, and the
new church is almost completed.

He had purchased 16 lots for the new parish. In addition
to the usual fund raisers— entertainments, lawn parties,
festivals, and a bazaar- a contemporary newspaper ac-
count of the church's opening recounts that Fr. Gannon
would walk through the village every evening after din-
ner with his dog, a St. Bernard named Flo, collecting a
dime from each of the 200 households of his congre-
gation.

Even before the construction of a church, the
sacramental work of the parish commenced. The first
child baptized in the new parish was James C. Liddell on
October 21, 1894. The first marriage was that of Ste-
phen Kobell and Agnes Molloy on November 17, 1894.

The dedication of the new church occurred on
Sunday, June 14, 1896 at the 10:15 A.M. Mass. Bishop
Me Donnell presided and Fr. Gannon was the celebrant,
aided by visiting priests L.J. Guerin as deacon, T. McGronen
as subdeacon, and P.F. O'Hara as preacher. The
; choir sang a newly composed Mass in honor of St. Seba-
stian accompanied by a full orchestra. The architect of
the church was F.J. Berlenbach, the builder was E.J.
Coles, and the masons were Messrs. Roden and Wise.

By 1902, the authoritative History of Long Island
by Peter Ross reported that the congregation of the pa-
rish had increased from 300 to more than 1,000, and the
number of Sunday school children from 153 to 240.

According to the archives of the Sisters of St.
Joseph, originally the Josephite Sisters taught religious
instruction here, from about 1895 until 1925 traveling in
each week from the former motherhouse in St. Michael's
Parish in Flushing. From 1925 until 1928, the Sisters
came here weekly from Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in
Corona. The "iron lady" of this effort was Sister Marie
de Lourdes Mallen, who worked 40 years in Flushing
and for nearly 30 of them spent every weekend teaching
catechism at St. Sebastian's. She was helped by a suc-
cession of younger sisters, including Sister Josephine
Marie Boutin, Sister Francis Ambrose Daly, and Sister
Mary Dulcissima Lavin. Also involved here were Sister
Dolorine Maria Finnan, Sister Agnes De Montfort Wer-
ner, and Sister Teresa Agnes Me Arthur. The Josephite
connection here ceased when the parish school opened in
1928, only to resume in 1993 with the arrival of Sister
Dolores Ryan, C.S.J, as Director of Religious Education.

Fr. Gannon died in February 1911 of Bright's
disease, having built the original church and the rectory,
which is still used to this day. At his funeral, several
pastors of Brooklyn parishes assisted. The celebrant was
the Rev. Thomas Carroll of St. Vincent de Paul Church,
the deacon was the Rev. John T. Woods of Holy Cross
Church, the subdeacon was the Rev. John F. O'Hara of
St. Matthew Church, and the eulogist was the Rev. Mat-
thew Tierney of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. The
Rev. Charles Doyle of Newark was the master of cere-
monies. Upon the death of Fr. Gannon, Fr. John Wynne
was appointed administrator of the parish for several
months, until the appointment of Fr. Walter Kerwin as
the new pastor in January 1912. Fr. Kerwin had been
here for only two years when he was made pastor of the
Shrine Church of Our Lady of Solace in Coney Island.