St. Henry's Church (Bayonne, New Jersey)

St. Henry's Church is a Roman Catholic church on Avenue C between 28th.and 29th. Street in Bayonne, New Jersey. The parish was founded in 1889 by 50 German immigrant families from Bavaria and was named after Emperor Henry II of the Holy Roman Empire. It is one of the first Catholic parishes in Bayonne and is part of the Archdiocese of Newark. The first church building, a wooden structure, was built in 1890 on the northeast corner of Avenue D (now Broadway) and 26th Street (site of the current Bayonne Post Office). The first pastor was the Reverend Alois Heller.

St. Henry's merged with St. Thomas' Church when the latter closed in 1892. This caused a controversy in Bayonne over what language should be spoken at masses. It was decided by Bishop Wigger in favor of the German-Catholics.

Construction of the current English Gothic style church, designed by architect Thomas Henry Poole, began in 1911, and was patterned after Durham Cathedral in England. The design of the building is cruciform or cross-shaped similar to most medieval churches of Europe. The building exterior is made of limestone from Bedford, Indiana. The ground was broken for the new church by Fr. Peter E. Reilly on June 17, 1911 and the cornerstone was laid by Bishop O'Connor on September 15, 1912. The new church was dedicated on May 30, 1915.

After the death of Fr. Reilly in 1919, Fr. Michael Mulligan took over the parish. He bought a pulpit of carrara marble for $4,000. Later, he bought an old...
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