A LEGACY OF COMMUNITY...
I didn’t really know that much about the history of Louisville when I moved here from Washington DC in the fall of 2007. I had driven out to Louisville for one visit and admired the historical architecture of the highlands and old Louisville and felt at home knowing that there at least was history here. Coming from the east coast that is so rich in layers of centuries of history, I felt like I was moving “out west” the further and further away I got from the Atlantic Ocean. I had never lived this far inland and felt like at least I had the Ohio river if I needed the peace that only a body of water could bring over my soul. When Shawn and I started feeling the tug to move to the western part of Louisville, I was excited, because the age of the homes and what I could perceive of the history that still lived in the neighborhood made me feel somewhat more at home. I was never one for new subdivisions full of freshly built houses. On our first tour of the Mackin building, after the owner said, what would become our house came with the building, I didn’t see a drab old building with drop ceilings, 70s paneling and brown paint everywhere. I saw years and years of life, and the historian in me wanted to know more.
The Mackin building in 1948
I quizzed Bobby, the previous owner, for any information that he had about the building. He had done some research over the years, and knew the building was named after Father William P. Mackin from St Cecilia parish, one block over. He knew the American Basketball Association semi pro basketball league used to play ball there, and that once there was a golden gloves boxing match in the gym which hosted Muhammad Ali. Eager to know more, I went down to the deed room at the county clerk’s office and researched the plot of land. Going back all the way to the homestead that used to be on the land before they constructed the building. I pieced together what I could, filling in the gaps in information with assumptions and anecdotal stories from neighbors coming into the fish fry that we started every Friday in the building. Then Father Burke from Good Shepherd approached us about buying St Cecilia. I had learned through my research in the deed room, that the diocese had owned the Mackin building at one point, and neighbors had told me not only was it used for St Cecilia school, but it was also extra parish hall space. I knew that by Love City purchasing St Cecilia, we would be bringing back together property that all used to be one and have one mission of serving the neighborhood, but I had no idea, just how much we would be walking in the footsteps of generations before us.
The red boundary shows the area we viewed as Love City's neighborhood and the blue boundary is the old parish boundary line for St Cecilia Parish.
Not long after we closed on St Cecilia, one of our neighbors showed up at the fish fry with some books. They were histories of St Cecilia Parish, one on the 75th anniversary, and one for the 100th anniversary. They were a treasure trove of information. How the parish got started, who the priests were, who the parishioners were. There was a copy of the original deed for the property when the Slevin family gave the diocese the land to be used for “a Catholic Church and school or schools, College or Seminary and of option and in addition Catholic Charitable Institutions.” It had pictures of the original church (which is where Porkland BBQ is located today) when it was in operation starting in 1873 and after it had been remodeled into the parish hall in 1916. It even had a history of the Mackin building.
Father William P Mackin - he is buried in St Louis Cemetery here in Louisville.
Father William P Mackin was born in Ireland in 1849. He immigrated to America with his widowed mother around 1854. He was ordained a priest in 1875 and served as a professor at St Joseph’s college in Bardstown, before being appointed pastor of St Cecilia in August 1887. He was particularly focused on the youth of the neighborhood, forming a literary society that became a Young Men’s Institute, which was dedicated to the ‘moral, social and intellectual advancement of its members.’ The YMI met in St Cecilia church until the morning of May 3, 1893, when Father Mackin was found dead kneeling at the side of his bed, having suffered a heart attack. In honor of Father Mackin, the YMI, now renting its own club house space on West Main St called themselves The Mackin Club. Later that same year they bought the old Evans homestead on 26th St and set about expanding. The old homestead is now the front rooms of the building on the first floor. They added the ballroom around 1900 and the gym in 1922. In 1936 the club was in danger of going into receivership not being able to pay back all the bond holders from the fundraising drive to cover the cost of building the gym. The leaders of the club approached Father Reitzel, the pastor of St Cecilia at the time and asked for assistance. Father Reitzel then got permission to ask the bondholders to surrender their bonds thereby making the Mackin building part and parcel of the St Cecilia parish.
When we re-opened the Mackin building for open gym for youth and after school programs, we knew that the building had once been used as a boys and girls club (its life after being sold by the catholic church) we didn’t know the deep history of dedication of the building to youth. That even before the boys and girls club, the building was originally intended for the betterment of youth in the neighborhood. There was still more to learn from the history of the parish and how we unknowingly were picking up the baton to love on the neighborhood. As I furthered my research, I focused on the church itself next.
St Cecilia church was founded in 1873, to bridge a gap between Our Lady down on Rudd Avenue and St Patrick’s further west. The neighborhood at the time was overwhelmingly Irish. Irish immigrants had flocked to Portland in particular to help build the Portland canal. They had settled in the neighborhood building small cottages and shotgun houses and keeping gardens and pigs in the back yard. Not long after the church building was completed, the parish started a school. They did not have a dedicated school building at the time, the nuns from the convent attached to the parish taught children in the church building itself, using the pews as the seats. As the parish grew, so did the student population, and by the time the church was remodeled into the parish hall in 1916, it was apparent that a dedicated school building was needed. The parishioners raised the funds to erect the new St Cecilia School building on Slevin St in 1927. By 1948 St Cecilia parochial school had 800 students making it one of the largest parochial schools in the southern United States. In 1950, the ladies of the Parent Teacher Association, started a year-round fish fry, to raise funds for the school. Eventually adding beer sales every week along with students from the school selling sandwiches during the weekly bingo games, that began in 1933, they were able to raise enough funds to keep the school viable for decades. School enrollment started to dwindle in the late 1960s, and by 1970 so many families had moved to the suburbs that St Cecilia School closed its doors in June of 1971. The building sat empty for years, util it was eventually sold and converted into apartments for seniors, which it still is today.
The Parish hall in 1948, much the same as it looks now, this is the current home of Porkland BBQ.
As I look back on Love City and how everything has developed over time, it’s amazing to see the parallels to community life almost 150 years ago. Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of St Cecilia church and the establishment of its hubs of community in this neighborhood. While I am not Catholic, and Love City is not a catholic organization, there are certain hallmarks of community that are transferrable to any group of people or neighborhood. The ‘parish’ neighborhood of the old St Cecilia looks very different today than it did 150 years ago. While the remnants of the Irish catholic families that settled this neighborhood are still here, we are now a much more diverse group of people. We have transplants from other parts of the city, country and world, and what I would consider a healthy mix of different races, and ethnicities. But without intending to, we have built on the legacy that St Cecilia started. We have a community school, Mighty Oak Academy, intended for the children of the neighborhood to receive an education and dream about their futures. We have Porkland, birthed out of a year-round fish fry, just like those PTA fish frys of long ago, that supports the costs of the school. We have a vibrant community that care for one another, that is a fine legacy of community to live up to.
Inga
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Mighty Oak Academy Amazon Wish List
We've started the new semester and our supplies of snacks and breakfast items are running low. You can find some on our Amazon wish list, but if you make a grocery run or Sam's club/Costco run and can pick up an extra box of any of the following we would appreciate it!
Granola bars
Yogurt cups or GoGurt
cereal
Veggie Straws
Goldfish/CheezIts
If you would like to partner with the school, you can visit our Amazon wish list and purchase items to ship directly to the school. Visit this link to view the list: https://a.co/77dqBIT
If you are interested in volunteering or to find out more information about supplies needed please email: info@lovecityinc.org or call (502) 272-078.
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