By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
Ss. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic parish was approaching its 100th anniversary when this photo was taken in 1944.
It’s been in Hamburg so long, it predates Hamburg. So they wouldn’t have to travel all the way to Buffalo’s St. Louis Church for Mass, a group of 22 German immigrants organized the parish in what was then White’s Corners.
The parish’s first worship space was in the former Thilerites meeting house, which was relocated to East Main Street when a new church was built. The building still stands today opposite where Newton Road meets East Main. The first building built as Ss. Peter and Paul was built for $1000 and dedicated in 1863.
After 50 years of growth in what’s now the Village of Hamburg, Buffalo Bishop Charles Colton traveled to Hamburg to dedicate the current Romanesque church building in 1911. Msgr. Nelson Baker was on hand for the dedication of the school building (foreground) in 1921.
In 1988, $1.2 million renovation was completed on the church, which was also freshly painted for its hundredth birthday in 2011.
Then, in 1844, 22 families split off from an East Eden parish following the death of the pastor there to form their own church. Today, 174 years later, 2500 families call Ss. Peter and Paul their spiritual home.
