Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Church and School, Brattleboro, VT

Early Beginnings

In the late summer or early fall of 1848 the Reverend Joseph Coolidge
Shaw of Boston offered what is believed to be the first Mass in the territory
of Brattleboro, Vermont. Sixty or seventy worshippers attended at the Wood
Farm on Vernon Road. Two missionaries were also known to have visited the
area during the middle 19th century and said Masses in the Revere House and
in a small brick building on Green Street. Father Daley, and Father O'Callaghan
also performed marriages in their far reaching territory. Another mission priest,
Reverend Zephyrin Druon was responsible for the first permanent chapel in 1854.
Fr. Druon was born in France. The earliest Catholic records of this area are found
in the baptismal register started by Reverend Charles O'Reilly, the mission priest who
became the first resident pastor in 1865. The first Baptism was that of John Moran
on November 4, 1855. The first marriage was for John Sheady and Catherine
Cunningham on September 4, 1856.

A Church is Built

St. Michael's School

With the arrival of the Reverend Henry Lane in 1874, the parish took on a new look
with the construction of the first parish school. The beginnings were stormy. A
confrontation between the Brattleboro School Committee and the Catholic parents
was precipitated over the question of a student's right to attend Mass on Holy Days of
obligation and then go to school late. In June 1874 Catholic students were denied
late admittance to school on Corpus Christi day, then a Holy Day. After attending
Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1874, 150 students
were expelled from school. Father Lane then began preparation for a Catholic
School. The first classes were conducted by Annie and Mary Burke during the
remainder of the school year. This was done in two rooms, one for boys and one
for girls. By the fall of 1875 the school building was ready and a teaching staff
had been secured. The first parochial school which was to serve until 1928, was
a four room frame building in the rear of the rectory. The customary eight classes
were taught in four rooms-two classes in each room. For many years the ninth
grade sent forth many of Brattleboro's leaders. Students of that time recall the
pioneer like atmosphere of the first few years of the school. Poor heating, plumbing
and lighting now seem unimportant or part of nostalgic memories. In Father Lane's
1878 report to the Bishop, he noted that 125 students were enrolled in school.




Return to St. Michael's Parish Home Page