The Church of The "Immaculate Conception"

(Roman Catholic)

of

New Lebanon,

Columbia County,

          New York         

by Captain Franklin Ellis⁴⁴¹

1878       

      Catholicity was introduced into New Lebanon about 1868, the services being supplied from the Chatham village parish.  Measures were instituted the following year to erect a church, and on the 3d of October, 1869, the corner-stone was laid by Bishop Conroy, on a lot a short distance west from New Lebanon.  A large and substantial brick edifice, costing nearly $14,000, was dedicated by the same bishop, June 18, 1871.  The church continued to be served by the priest of the Chatham parish, Rev. James J. Moriarty, until Sept. 24, 1874, when, in connection with Malden Bridge and Stephentown, it became a new parish.  The communicants, numbering several hundred, are under the spiritual tutelage of the Rev. J. J. Brennan.

     In the New Britain neighborhood is a meeting-house belonging to the Christian church, in which worship a society number thirty members.  Rev. C. W. Havens, of the Red Rock church, fills the pastoral office.