To spot St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, look for the tall, pointed steeple and red-brick walls with Gothic-style windows on the corner of Main and Blake Streets, right across from the street-you can’t miss that dramatic spire reaching for the sky!
Now, as you stand in front of this grand building, let's step back in time to 1864. Imagine the clang and clatter of bricks being stacked,, as the city’s first Roman Catholic church rises from the Maine soil. Patrick C. Keely, a famed architect who probably drew churches faster than most people can draw stick figures, gave this place the Gothic Revival style you see today-tall arched windows, a sturdy red brick tower, and a spire that almost pokes the clouds.
Originally, local Catholics didn’t have their own church-they gathered in a borrowed Baptist church or waited for traveling priests to come to town. But faith is persistent, and soon after St. Joseph’s congregation was formed in 1857, this new church began to take shape. Not only was it the first of its kind in Lewiston, but today it’s one of only two buildings in all of Maine designed by Keely that still stand.
Picture thousands of families flocking here for generations-the warm glow of stained glass casting colors on the pews, the low murmur of voices during Mass, the glorious ring of the church bells. But every story has a twist: by 2009, the church closed its doors, and in 2013, there was talk of demolition. Thankfully, folks weren’t quite ready to say goodbye-so the church stands, still searching for its next chapter. Maybe it's waiting for the perfect idea, or the bravest dreamer, to bring it back to life!
