Queens Parish First One Named for St. Joan of Arc, 1920

CHURCH OF ST. JOAN OF ARC. Parish at Jackson Heights First in America to be Named for New Saint. (The New York Times, July 11, 1920)

Ground was broken last Tuesday for the new church of St. Joan of Arc, on Fillmore Avenue, Jackson Heights, Queens. This new parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn was established by Bishop Charles E. McDonnell of Brooklyn on the very day that world pilgrims were gathered at St. Peter’s, Rome, to witness the impressive ceremonies incident to the canonization of the maid from Orleans. The Rev. Father Ward G. Meehan, rector of the parish of St. Joan of Arc, who is holding the services temporarily in the Casino in a pleasant grove on the summit of Jackson Heights, said at the first service that the new parish, in his opinion, had the distinction of being the first in America to be named for the newly canonized saint, if not the first in the world. The church which is now being erected is only intended as a temporary structure. It will cost $20,000 and will be finished sometime next month. The land was donated by the Queensboro Corporation. Father Meehan, the young rector, lives at 112 Twenty-third Street, Jackson Heights. He is a native of Brooklyn, and was graduated from St. Francis Xavier’s College in Manhattan. He was formerly assistant rector of St. Bartholomew’s in Elmhurst and is well known in Brooklyn and Queens. Father Meehan was one of the first Catholic priests to be appointed a Chaplain during the war. He was appointed to the Fiftieth Regiment of the Regular Army in France, and remained there fourteen months. It is expected that the permanent church will be started in five years. It will be modeled after the Gothic Cathedral at Nancy, of which St. Joan is the patron saint.