St. Paul's Roman Catholic Mission Church

Henry Flannery (1791-1866) came to this country via Canada from County Tipperary, Ireland. He later earned a degree in engineering and headed several canal projects in America, including the Chesapeake Bay Canal to the Delaware Bay. Flannery, along with partner Matthew Ryan, headed the Union Canal project. They brought an estimated 150 Irish and Italian immigrants to the area in the time span 1823 to 1830 as laborers. Flannery owned a 220 acre farm in Douglassville and completed the erection of a homestead that was begun by the Hirst family in 1815. In 1830 he built a St. Paul Mission Chapel on land he donated. In 1846 the church was enlarged to accommodate 150 parishioners. It was modeled after the church in Bally.