Building of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul

...later on June 29, 1846, Bishop Kenrick announced plans to start building a new cathedral on the parkway.[3] This was a bold plan from Kenrick, since only two years earlier St. Augustine was destroyed during the anti-Catholic Nativist Riots. Furthermore, Kenrick did not want to take on debt for the

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The Bishop’s Bank

...eir savings with a private institution. Perhaps their unfamiliarity with a new environment or the anti-Catholic prejudice they encountered made them distrustful. Bishop Francis P. Kenrick recognized the problem these workers faced. In May of 1848 he opened a bank to receive, and pay interest on, the deposits of working

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Anti-Catholicism in Jacksonian Philadelphia

...Archives also has an almost complete run of official Philadelphia Diocesan newspapers up to the current Archdiocesan paper, The Catholic Standard and Times. More information on the riots can be found in the Nativist Riots of 1844 Papers. Archives Archives Select Month April 2025 March 2025 December 2024 October 2024

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1832 Cholera Outbreak in Philadelphia and Duffy’s Cut

...lroad. The cholera epidemic that was ravaging parts of the U.S., including New York City, spread to Philadelphia and reached the laborers' camp in mid-August. Within two and a half weeks, all of the men were dead. All of the deaths were blamed on the disease; however, historical documents and

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