The date on the cornerstone raises an interesting question.
The parish formed in 1903 and originally met in a patch house in Buffington, adjacent to New Salem. After that, chronology gets fuzzy. A history of the area in the Historical Room of the Uniontown PA Public Library includes a photo of the later church's interior and exterior, which it dates as 1910 (and sites as being in Buffington). Those photos can be seen
here.
It was a rather impressive structure (in retrospect, I wish I had posted the photo here as well), surmounted by 6 domes: 1 at each corner, 1 at front center, and the 6th either at the center rear or in the center of the roof (difficult to tell from the scanned photo). (Its domes are a mix of those with the large and small bases - my 8 year old has informed me that "the smaller ones are scallion domes, they aren't big enough to be onion domes"
)
The Metropolia's 1999 Anniversary Directory entry describes the cornerstone of the frame church as having been laid in late 1903, but isn't specific as to whether it was in Buffington or New Salem (no surprise to me; after several years of working on our Directory, I've come to accept that borough and township lines in PA are about as stable as mercury). (The Buffington-New Salem Road is the principal artery joing the two communities.)
It goes on to note the (first) division in the parish (1912 or 1913, depending on what you use as a reference) which resulted in the founding of Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church (then of the Russian Metropolia, now of the OCA) in New Salem. The case went to court and was decided in favor of St Mary's late in 1913. The temple was formally dedicated in 1914.
The new church (ground-breaking in 1966, cornerstone and dedication in 1967) is clearly in New Salem.
With 1910 photo and 1999 text conflicting, I was grateful to come into possession of a 1949 Anniversary Directory - sure that it would resolve the issue. Not a chance. The 1949 edition was light on text but indicated that the first church was built in 1903. It also included a photo of the temple that preceded the current one. But, ... it didn't take a forensic photography analyst to realize that the brick temple I was viewing was identical to the one dubbed 1910 in a contemporary historical text.
So, now, I have:
- 1903 church built (per 1949 Directory)
- 1903 cornerstone (per 1999 Directory)
- 1910 church (per local history)
- 1913 cornerstone (per photo)
My best guess, the congregation moved from patch house (Buffington) to the original church (New Salem) in 1903. It's possible that the schism in the parish was building over several years before it went to court and that dedication of the temple was delayed because of that. Once the civil case resolved, the dedication was finally served and the cornerstone refaced and reinscribed as 1913 (year in which by-laws were adopted by the parish).
I'm open to any other interpretations of the seeming conflict in timelines. (John, you may want to jump in here!)
As an aside, I'm not totally convinced that the church, as seen in the 1910 photo, was brick rather than frame. If so, 1913 could mark a point in time when it was faced with brick (although the 1910 and 1949 photos are so identical in appearance that I could be very wrong).
Also, although the parish was formally styled Holy Assumption of Saint Mary at inception, I'm pretty sure that the cornerstone reads Protection of the Holy Virgin Roman-Catholic Slovak Church (S.V. Prokopa Rim-Kat Slovensky Kostal). In the many other cornerstones seen here and elsewhere, I don't recollect this more generic (for lack of a better word) usage being substituted for an actual patronal title of the Theotokos. Does this suggest that the patronage might have been in flux at some point, or am I reading too much into it? (or is my translation completely inaccurate?)
And, finally, I note the cornerstone's use of 'Slovak', though the parish is historically described as Hungarian.
All commentary intended to unravel or further confuse me regarding these matters is very welcome.
Many years,
Neil
