CELEBRATING OUR 175th
Eastern Panhandle – Tracks to Expansion
St. John Parish (later known as St. Joseph’s) in Martinsburg was established in 1825, and was served by Rev. John B. Gildea.
By the 1830s, growth and expansion of the railways westward lead German and Irish immigrants to settle in this region of western Virginia.
For the communities of Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg this meant an expanding Catholic community. The Martinsburg Catholics had purchased the land for their church building in 1802, but waited 34 years to see it completed. Before this time families gathered for Mass in private homes and later a rented house until the first churchwas completed. The parish’s second church was completed in 1860 and dedicated to St. Joseph. The church was used as a headquarters for the occupying Union troops during the Civil War, with the main floor serving as a hospital and the basement as a stable for the soldiers’ horses. A school was opened in 1870 and staffed by lay teachers until the Sisters of Charity arrived 1883.
