The new parish was to be dedicated to St. Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Scotland and wife of King Malcolm III.

To make up the new parish sections were taken principally from the former territory of St. Peter's (1842) parish and a portion of St. Patrick's (1831).

In this area in 1910, there were approximately 1100 Catholic souls and 235 Catholic families. As determined by the then Archbishop O'Connell, the boundaries of the new St. Margaret's parish were:

• Starting at West Side of Plain Street and Hale's Brook running across Chelmsford Street;
• along the West side of Powell Street to Library Street;
• along the South side of Liberty Street to the intersection of Liberty and School Streets;
• along the West side of School Street to Branch Street, but including Branch;
• side Streets running into South side of Branch Street;
• then side Streets running into South side of Middlesex Street to Stevens Street;
• along the South side of Middlesex to intersection of Middlesex and Pawtucket;
• thence along both sides of Middlesex to Baldwin, to Hale's Brook and along North Street to starting point.
• No houses on Branch Street or on the North side of Middlesex Street until Pawtucket Street intersects, are in St. Margaret's parish."
  

More than 90 years later - these are still the boundaries of St. Margaret's Parish.

To found this parish, the Archbishop, in December 1910, sent a young, zealous priest, Rev. John J. Harkins. He came straight from the Citadel of Catholicism in New England, South Boston, and fresh from his duties as assistant to the pastor of St. Augustine's Church in that district, to become the founder and first pastor of St. Margaret's Church in Lowell.

St. Margaret's had its beginning in the first piece of parish property purchased on Stevens Street. This was a house at 374 Stevens Street (now the parish clubhouse) which was to serve as the parochial residence for 17 years.

On January 10, 1911 the young priest from South Boston moved into the rectory-without-a-church. Father Harkins immediately had a room fitted up as a chapel and on the next day, Mass was first celebrated in the Highlands section of Lowell.

On January 15, 1911, a Sunday five days later, over 550 persons crowded the parochial residence to hear Mass.

A week later a canvas tent had been erected and on the second Sunday of St. Margaret's history, Mass was celebrated in this tent.

Approximately 450 persons heard Mass on that memorable day. Although the temperature outside hovered around the 15 degree mark, eighteen ancient gas radiators kept the inside temperature at a " less-than-tropic" 60 degrees for those hardy pioneers praying the Mass in Lowell's newest parish.

The tent, which was about 50 feet long by 35 feet wide, was "guaranteed to withstand the severest blasts of the winter season". The eighteen gas radiators were going full blast all at time, and they served their purpose well. The seats were arranged in a semi-circle and placed on a raised platform. There were plans to bank up the sides with dirt and to reinforce the sides and top to "withstand any tests the weather may put to it." Father Rosette O.M.I. of the Tewksbury Novitiate assisted Father Harkins in celebrating the Masses, and Father Harkins preached at each Mass. Daily Masses took place in the rectory.

Then Lowell had its "night of the Big Wind" on the Saturday evening of January 28th. This was only 13 days after the tent had been put into use as the first church of St. Margaret's parish. The "Big Wind" blew part of the tent down; one of the big rings which held a pole broke and that portion of the tent collapsed. As a safety precaution, the rest of the tent was taken down and services were again transferred to the rectory. Here Sunday church services were conducted for about two weeks.

In spite of intense cold and blizzard weather, work was started on a temporary wooden chapel with a seating capacity of 400.

On Sunday, February 12, 1911, the wooden chapel was ready for occupancy and five Masses were celebrated there. St. Margaret's very First Holy Communion class, consisting of 25 girls and 38 boys, were photographed outside the wooden chapel on May 30, 1911.

Due to the rapid growth of the parish, within a short period of time, 600 parishioners of St. Margaret's started work on the construction of a permanent church.

The church lines were laid out on April 18, 1911; the blessing of the site and the turning of the first sod of earth took place on April 19th; excavating for the new church began on April 24th; the cornerstone was laid in July, three months later; and eight months later the beautiful new church was finished and filled to overflowing for the first solemn high Mass in the church edifice which now observes the 94th year of its construction.

The enthusiasm of those first parishioners was so great and their zeal so extraordinary that in less than a year they had built a church which was a credit to their Faith and a landmark of beauty in their city.

Father Harkins, who had first held the Sacred Host aloft in a room of the parish house and then in a tent on Stevens Street in January, realized the great joy of celebrating the first solemn high Mass - 11 months later on Christmas day in the present structure dedicated to St. Margaret.

The church building, designed in the Spanish-Colonial ecclesiastical architectural style of the American Southwest of the 17th and 18th centuries, was built to seat 1186. On Christmas morning 1914 a Solemn High Mass of a dedicatory nature was held, and Rev. J. J. Coveney, S. J. of the College of the Holy Cross preached.

In 1914 there were stain glass windows in the sanctuary and in the choir loft. Those in the center over the altar depict the Crucifixion, the Nativity, and the Resurrection. On the sidewalls of the sanctuary are depicted the four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. That in the choir loft is of St. Cecilia. Pictures taken as late as 1928 show that the side windows in the body of the church were plain, not stain glass.

However, in the Divine Plan, Father Harkins' work was soon to be finished. He had established St. Margaret's parish and he had celebrated the first Mass of Christmas in the beautiful new church and he was still a young man. And two months from that Christmas Eve, Father Harkins was dead.

The first pastor of St. Margaret's church had performed a lifetime's work in scarcely a year's time. He was 44 years old when God called him home to his reward.

[ The next 80 years ]