The bells of St. Joseph’s ring again throughout Bayonne just in time for Christmas
The city of Bayonne received an early Christmas gift on Dec. 1 when the Bells of the former St. Joseph’s Church rang once again in their new home inside a clock tower erected at Fitzpatrick Park.
A dedication was held last Thursday, with the bells ringing for the first time since the church was demolished on Dec. 27, 2019, after the Archdiocese of Newark sold the property.
Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis said he is “very proud of the administration for saving the bells of St. Joseph’s Church for future generations of residents to enjoy.”
“They will serve as a memorial to the Slovak immigrants of St. Joseph’s Parish who helped build Bayonne in the 19th and 20th centuries,” Davis said.
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Constructed in 1909, St. Joseph’s was one of the oldest Slovak churches in the U.S. and was once touted as the largest church in Bayonne. As the congregation changed in 2011, it became a Syriac Catholic parish, reflecting the community surrounding the church.
But with numbers declining, in 2015the Archdiocese announced that St. Joseph’s on Avenue E, along with St. Michael’s at 21 East 23rd Street and Our Lady of Assumption on West 23rd Street, would close and merge into Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, which was later renamed after St. John Paul II. A developer purchased the St. Joseph’s property with plans to demolish the church and construct 162 housing units in its place.
Bayonne Public Works Director Tom Cotter, whose mother and grandmother were St. Joseph’s parishioners, was driving by when St. Joseph’s was being razed. As he pulled over to watch, he heard the clanging of falling bricks on the bells, which he thought had been removed. At Cotter’s prompting, the city attorney approached the developer, who agreed to save the bells, rumored to weigh thousands of pounds each.
“That was the church my family went to.,” Cotter said, explaining why he felt compelled to save some of the church’s history. “My mother still has her community of friends she met at school there. St. Joseph’s was a community.” Some of the bells are thought to have been purchased by the Slovak parishioners, while another is a former fire bell and are at least 90 years old, Cotter said.
The bells were sent to Verdin Bell Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, for polishing, refurbishing, and retoning. The company also built the 35-foot-tall bell tower that will display three of the four bells while also containing four clock faces – one on each side – and a weathervane on top. The fourth bell will eventually be displayed inside Bayonne City Hall. The clock tower, at 27th Street and Avenue C, is located a half mile from the former church at 317 Avenue E. The bells are now active and programable to play music.
One man who attended the dedication said his grandfather was a lay founder of St. Joseph’s. He said the clock tower, with the tolling bells, held “big meaning for him.”
Steve Belloise, Executive Director of Property Management Administration for the Archdiocese of Newark, said that the Archdiocese is always happy to see church patrimony being given new life.
In the future, the bells will toll on the hour and will play songs on special occasions because “we don’t want a battle of the bells with St. Henry’s down the street,” Cotter said. The bells could play on days such as the Marine Corps Birthday, the Christmas Tree Lighting, and New Year’s Day, he said.
Cotter credited the mayor, as well as the developer, for saving the bells.
“The city is going through a renaissance with new development,” Cotter said. “But we are also big on preserving our history. Cotter said the razing may have been the end of that church, but Bayonne has always been built on community, and that will never change.
Featured image: The bells of St. Joseph’s, which was razed in 2019, found a new home in Bayonne’s Bell Tower. (City of Bayonne)
