Several mills, beginning with the Spraque Mill in 1856, attracted immigrant labor to the area. Many Irish, French- Canadians and Poles settled in the village of Baltic and they formed a substantial Catholic community.
Photo: View southeast showing façade of convent and façade and west elevation of church. (Tod Bryant)
By the late 19th century they were able to build several parish buildings, including the Second Empire style St. Mary Convent, erected in 1888, Immaculate Conception Church (1911) and Academy of the Holy Family (1914).
Clouette, Bruce, Robert Griffith, John Herzan and Matthew Roth, Baltic Historic District, Town of Sprague, Connecticut. National Register nomination. 1987.
This church faces north onto West Main Street. It has a Palladian facade with a centered main entrance and secondary entrances in the east and west wings. The main entrance is framed by a stone panel with pilasters supporting a simple entablature. the entrances are reached by long stone staircases. Secondary entrances are surmounted by round stone arches.
The center bay is surmounted by a square tower with pairs of round-arched windows on its south, west and east elevations. The tower is surmounted by a tall domed bell tower with clock faces on its south east and west elevations. Windows surmounted by round stone pediments with keystones are centered on all three bays of the façade on the second story.
Smaller windows surmounted by round stone pediments flank the main entrance and smaller windows with stone lintels surmounted by roundels with stone surrounds flank the center window on the second story. There are six stone belt courses on the façade.
The buildings associated with St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception parish stand along the south side of West Main Street at the western end of the commercial area of Baltic.
Common Name: St. Mary Church Date(s): Built 1911 Style(s): Georgian Revival Historic Use: Church Present Use: Church
Accessibility:
Exterior visible from public road.
Interior accessible (during services and at other times).
CT Irish-American
Heritage Trail
640 Arrowhead Drive
Orange, CT 06477
The Irish experience has had a profound impact on Connecticut's past, and its narrative spans all periods of the state's history and touches every one of its eight counties and 169 towns.
