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St. Stanislaus Kostka was the first Polish Catholic parish founded in St. Louis, on May 23, 1880. The present church was built in 1892, standing in the crowded neighborhood of Irish immigrants known as "Kerry Patch." Since then that community has come and gone, as has Pruitt-Igoe, the notorious high-rise public housing project which replaced it. Until the recent low level redevelopment facing the church, set among fields of cleared blocks, St. Stanislaus almost had a rural setting in the midst of a city.
The building, designed by Wessbecher & Hummel (who also designed Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Hyde Park) on a Greek cross plan, contrast a dark Romanesque exterior with a brightly lighted Byzantine-influenced interior. The center of the three saucer domes originally rose higher to a large lantern, which gave the church a more dramatic profile and allowed windows, but it had to be lowered for structural reasons in 1913. The mural, called "Golgotha," located behind the altar, is a copy of the larger painting by Jan Styka that was shown at the 1904 World's Fair. It was installed in 1928, when the interior was redecorated after a fire. The windows are by Michael Olszewski. They show Polish saints, including two by the name of Stanislaus; the church's patron is depicted above the main altar.
The parish of St. Stanislaus was incorporated under Missouri law in 1891, and the church is owned by the parish rather than by the archdiocese. The Chamber Chorus performed here twice in the early 1990s: "A Polish Christmas" on December 15, 1991, and a spring program on April 25, 1993.
Notes by Esley Hamilton and Philip Barnes