Thousands of Westchester men served in World War I. Most were in the 27^th, 77^th (“Liberty”), or 42^nd (“Rainbow”) Divisions. With the Armistice in 1918, they returned home to a period of growth and excitement.

           High rents in New York City drove many working families north, and these sought homes along the Harlem Railroad.  A population explosion occurred in Westchester, as the number of residents increased from 344,436 to 520,947 during the 1920s, mostly in central and southern Westchester.  Farms, which had been the mainstay of the county, were sold and divided to provide homes for the newly arrived residents. 

            Earlier on, after the American War for Independence of 1776, six families operated farms in Greenburgh:  the Oakleys, Odells, Applebys, Hunts, Barnes, and Harts. The area around Washington and Hartsdale Avenues was known as Barnes Corners, until the Harts expanded their holdings and the area then became known as Harts Corners.  In the 1840s, as the Harlem Railroad was being built along the Bronx River, a second section developed around the new railroad station.  Mr. Moring opened a general store, and the area became known as Moringville.  In 1871, Central Park Avenue was completed, and “The Corners” shifted there.  The Harts farms extended along present Hartsdale Avenue, toward Moringville, and eventually, the entire area became known as Hartsdale. 

            For a time, Hartsdale was considered a country retreat.  Dr. S. C. Johnson, a prominent veterinarian in New York City, owned a ten-acre apple orchard here.  In 1896, he compassionately buried the bodies of deceased animals on his property.  As he continued this practice to help other pet owners, he gained widespread attention.  Today, Dr. Johnson’s country sanctuary has become the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. 

            During the 1890s, August Shrader invented the air valve.  Its use in automobile tires was so successful that Mr. Shrader amassed a fortune.  His son, George H. F. Shrader, lived on Hillcrest Road, and left the family business to devote himself to philanthropic works 

            In 1905, George established a convalescent home for “underprivileged mothers and children.”  In memory of his mother, he built The Caroline Rest, a 100-bed fire-resistant structure on the elevation behind the Hartsdale Railroad Station, overlooking the golf course and Bronx Valley.  There was a physician, a dietician who supervised meal preparation and gave lectures to the mothers, and social workers.  While the trend at the time was to teach birth control, the staff at The Caroline Rest refrained from such education. George was so impressed with his workers at the home, that he built a “country club” for them across the road on East Hartsdale Avenue.  In 1935, the home was sold, and the property eventually became the site of the Country Club Ridge Apartments.           

Neighboring While Plains became a city in 1916, with its own journal, The Chesterfieldian, popular in the 1920s and selling for fifteen cents a copy.  Hartsdale became known for Kurslak’s, a speakeasy frequented during the time of Prohibition.

            In the rectory of St. John the Evangelist, Father Lawrence F. Ryan looked up from the letter he had just written to Patrick Cardinal Hayes.  Father Ryan had been an assistant pastor at St. John’s for thirteen years, his second assignment following his ordination.  Born in White Plains, he had graduated from Fordham Prep and Fordham College.  He had seen White Plain’s progress, and knew its mayor, Frederick C. McLaughlin, a New York City attorney.  As he daydreamed, the clang of the Main Street Trolley departing the station on its way toward Silver Lake brought him back to his letter. A few days earlier, June 30, 1926, Cardinal Hayes had appointed him pastor of the new parish south of White Plains. He now wrote that he was “deeply grateful,” and that he was “writing to ask approval for ‘Church of the Sacred Heart’ as the official name of the church.”      

Father Ryan offered the first Mass at Sacred Heart on July 4, 1926, the 150^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. One hundred people were present.  The site was 59 Wilson Street. Immediately, construction of a new church on that site began. The new church was ready for the first Mass on November 11, 1928. On May 12, 1929, Cardinal Hayes dedicated the new church. That original church is now part of the Sacred Heart School building.  

 The stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression marked the early days of Sacred Heart.  Father Ryan took no salary. It was his way to help the struggling parish. For his first 26 years as pastor, he was without an assistant.           

The 1930s were a significant time in history.  In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected, and Adolf Hitler came into power in Germany.  In New York, the Catholic Worker movement began.  Patrick Cardinal Hayes died in 1938, and in 1939, Pope Pius XII appointed Francis J. Spellman the sixth archbishop of New York.  (He was named a cardinal in 1946.)  World War II began in Europe.  The World’s Fair was held in New York.           

The 1940s saw the United States enter World War II on December 8, 1941. The War ended in August 1945, and later the United Nations was established.  Large-scale demolition of tenement housing and elevated trains in New York City, with the subsequent construction of high-priced buildings, forced thousands to flee the city, and to move northward into Westchester County and into Hartsdale. It was a second post-war migration. 

            In April 1951, Father Ryan requested permission to purchase three lots adjacent to the old church at Lawton and Central Avenues for $4,440.  There is no record of any answer.  Six months later, he approached Monsignor John Voight, Superintendent of Schools, and requested permission to start a parish school.  He planned to begin with a kindergarten, first, and second grades.  In March 1952, he again attempted to interest the Board of Consulters to buy the Lawton and Central Avenue property.  However, now the asking price had risen to $15,000. Again, the Board of Consulters denied his request, stating that the cost was “out of line” for “an unsuitable location.” 

            Father Ryan asked a real estate agent to contact the Board of Consulters. Margaret McNulty agreed to waive her commission, and urged the purchase of the property for $13,500.  She stated that it was necessary for the future of the parish, and predicted that it would increase in value. 

            When several months passed without an answer, Father Ryan composed a letter in his own neat script to Cardinal Spellman.  He outlined his plan for a much needed parish school.  The “old church” had been built with a school in mind: its lower level, an auditorium, ready to be redesigned into classrooms.  The new property was for a new church.  The Board of Consulters’ refusal was a mistake, and so, Father was “humbly asking the favor of the Cardinal’s personal attention to this matter.”           

            Two weeks later, the Consulters met and approved purchase of the property for $12,000. 

            In September 1953, Sacred Heart School opened.  At the dedication pf the school, little Brian Baker was prepared to make a presentation to Cardinal Spellman.  As several Bishops were present, the little boy was a bit overwhelmed.  He turned to Sister Mary Roberta, R.D.C. the first principal, and asked, “Sister, is he the guy in orange?” Four classrooms had been created within the former parish hall.  Sisters of the Divine Compassion were teaching forty-five pupils in three grades.  The sisters were not strangers to pioneering endeavors.  In 1923, when Father Ryan had been their neighbor at St. John’s, they had opened Good Counsel College in White Plains, sharing grounds with their Academy of Good Counsel 

            Church construction continued apace. The Archdiocesan Building Commission entertained estimates.  Two proposals were considered:  a church of simplified Gothic architecture costing $475,000 and a simple modern style costing $400,000.  The latter was accepted.  Paul C. Reilly was engaged as the architect, and Magnotta Construction Company was selected as builder. 

            Ground for the second church was broken on August 22, 1954. A year later, on Sunday, September 11, 1955, “a dream came true.”  Although the first Mass in the new church had been offered by Father Ryan on August 22, 1955, Francis Cardinal Spellman dedicated the Church of the Sacred Heart at a ten-thirty morning Mass on that September day. Heavy rains fell, but Cardinal Spellman called it the “brightest day in the history of the parish.”  Eight hundred people were present, including some from St. John’s parish who shared the joy of the day with the Sacred Heart parishioners. 

            The church was constructed of brick, wood, steel, and glass, with tiles in the ceiling.  Its dimensions are 137 feet in length, 46.3 feet in width at the vestibule end, and 77 feet at the end of the apse.  Seating is possible for 575.  There was a blue cupola above the sanctuary, permitting light to enter.  Two windows depicting Saint Peter and Saint Paul frame the sanctuary.           

The stained glass scenes were from E. Heimer’s Studio in Clifton, New Jersey.  The themes included: the Finding of Jesus in the Temple, the Presentation, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Annunciation, Christ the King and Saint Michael at the Last Judgment, the Ascension, Let the Little Children Come, and the Wedding Feast at Cana.  Reds and blues predominate.

            The statues are all carved from linden wood.  These include Saints Joseph, Anthony, and Anne, and Our Blessed Mother and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The statue of the Sacred Heart outside the church on Central Avenue is an aluminum cast weighing six hundred pounds.  The designer was Frank A. Klein of Brooklyn, New York. 

            Two years later 1957, Cardinal Spellman founded Maria Regina High School on West Hartsdale Avenue.  The selected site is the spot where the Compte de Rochambeau encamped his French troops who assisted General George Washington in 1781. The Archdiocese purchased the property, then known as the Bingham estate.  Maria Regina’s first principal was Sister Mary Gertrude, C.R., and the Sisters of the Resurrection have administered and staffed the school from its inception.  Maria Regina is the first archdiocesan girls’ high school in Westchester County. 

            Shortly after the dedication of the new church, Pope Pius XII raised Father Ryan to the rank of domestic prelate.  Monsignor Ryan continued to work as pastor despite a severe case of Diabetes Mellitus.  On Tuesday, February 9, 1960, while having dinner, he was stricken and died suddenly.  During his tenure of thirty-four years as pastor, Monsignor Ryan had seen many changes in the parish, not the least of which was an increase of Sunday Mass attendance from one hundred to eighteen hundred.  Hartsdale and Sacred Heart were growing.           

Monsignor Henry T. Morton became the new pastor on March 19, 1960, after assignments at St. Joseph’s, Wurtsboro, and St. John’s, Bronx.  One of Monsignor’s first happy occasions at Sacred Heart was to preside at the school’s initial graduation.  In June 1960, twenty girls and ten boys earned the distinction of being Sacred Heart’s first graduates. 

            The parish enjoyed an annual family picnic and a babysitting service during Mass.  The Catholic Book Rack was a formal feature.  The Teen Club was active, and visited the World’s Fair on September 1, 1964. The first monthly missalettes were used for Easter that year. 

            Construction and expansion continued in the school and in the rectory.  Parish societies were meeting at the Chase Manhattan Bank Building on Central Avenue just south of Hartsdale Avenue and at St. Paul’s Hall on Central Avenue and Jane Street.  By 1967, the school was complete with a combined gymnasium/parish hall, and a parish meeting room.  Finished also was the new rectory.           

            On March 22, 1969, Monsignor Morton retired.  His successor was Monsignor Robert D. Brown. He had been for eight years pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, Irvington.  Earlier, he had worked with Catholic Charities and served in a number of government advisory posts before being becoming Spiritual Director at St. Joseph’s Seminary in the 1950s.  He then returned to pastoral work, and was hailed as a priest who understood well the teaching of Vatican II regarding the laity.  In that light, he guided Sacred Heart in the development of its first parish council. 

            In 1972, the Archdiocese reviewed Sacred Heart parish.  It noted that there were eighteen hundred adult parishioners, predominantly of the middle class.  While most lived in single-family homes, an increasing number were renters, a result of the construction of large buildings near the train station.  The newly formed parish council was hailed as cooperative and active.  The school had an enrollment of four hundred eighty pupils taught by eight Sisters of Divine Compassion and seven laypersons. Tuition was ten dollars per month.  Both Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and adult education programs were well organized.

             Shortly after the review, Monsignor Brown was appointed Vicar of Sullivan County and transferred to St. Peter’s, Monticello.  The parish council wrote a letter to the Archdiocese requesting an able administrator; they stated that they did not want an excessive traditionalist or an excessive radical. 

             Monsignor Edward Connors arrived as pastor in 1972.  An able administrator, he had served as Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese.  His education included a doctorate in Education from Catholic University.  Several months after his arrival at Sacred Heart, Monsignor Connors was additionally appointed Episcopal Vicar of Westchester.

             Also, in 1972, the parish learned that Monsignor Morton was ailing, and was confined to his apartment where his sisters cared for him.  Until the end that came on February 4, 1974, he remained alert and intellectually interested.

            Several national events made the year 1973 outstanding: the United States withdrew from Viet Nam; the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision, Roe v. Wade; and the Watergate scandal was publicized.

In July 1974, after two short years at Sacred Heart, Monsignor Connors was transferred to Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scarsdale.

            When his transfer was announced, the parish council again approached the Personnel Board of the Archdiocese.  They complained that both previous pastors had served short terms (three and two and one-half years). They petitioned for a pastor for a minimum of six years.  The council described Sacred Heart parishioners as highly educated, sophisticated, executive, and highly mobile.  A young pastor, “progressive, but not excessively so,” was requested.

            Father James M. Connolly arrived as pastor. Ordained a priest in 1956, he was a respected liturgical scholar and professor at St. Joseph’s Seminary from 1965-1974. One of Father Connolly’s first projects was to initiate a Mass for the Sick within which the Sacrament of Anointing would take place. The first such Mass occurred on October 26, 1974.  At first it was held every month, then every three months, and finally, as it is today, an annual event.

            Sacred Heart has always had a fairly large of families of Italian descent. This was especially true during the 1970s, when Mass was celebrated in Italian, preceded by confessions in Italian. Fathers Raymond Lamina, Fernando Beardi and Bishop Joseph M. Pernicone took turns visiting the parish for the feasts of Saint Joseph, Saint Anthony, Saint Francis, and Our Lady of the Rosary.

            On July 4, 1976, the United States celebrated its Bicentennial.  Just one month earlier, Sacred Heart celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.  On Pentecost Sunday, June 6, 1976, Terence Cardinal Cooke arrived for the twelve-thirty Mass at which the concelebrants included Monsignor Joseph O’Keefe, Chancellor of the Archdiocese and later bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse, and Monsignors Brown and Connors, both former pastors, and Fathers Connolly, Hickey, and Lauri.  The West Point Brass Quintet provided a special musical program at the Mass.  A reception was held afterward.

            Also during 1976, Father Connolly announced that a new cross would hang in the Sacred Heart apse.  A unique work of art, it was designed and built by a group of parishioners:  Ben D’Arconte, Sister Susan Greene, R.D.C., Joan Mino, Randy Driscoll, and Deacon Paul Harrington. In March 1977, the new cross was erected in the church 

 In addition, a new organ was purchased, and a new altar composed of materials from the two original side altars was built.  The tabernacle, standing upon a pillar of alabaster taken from the church’s original altar, was placed to the left of the main altar.  Behind the tabernacle hung a cloth of Portuguese damask.

             Father Connolly added a new church bell, an old ship’s bell found by him during a trip to Cape Cod.  Father made the bell his own personal donation to Sacred Heart on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary.  “I hope you will enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoy ringing it,” he wrote.           

            During the summer of 1977, the school parents sponsored first Sacred Heart bazaar.

             During 1978, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I died, and Pope John Paul II was elected.  That year, Father Connolly announced the beginning of a new Ministry to the Aging, in response to the increased population of seniors in the parish.  (This would become part of the Network of Care in 1982.)  In September, Father Connolly was named a Monsignor. 

            In 1979, the Sisters of Divine Compassion left Sacred Heart, and the Sisters of Charity arrived.  Sister Bernadette del Frate, S.C. became principal of the school. They came not only to teach at Sacred Heart School but also to conduct retreats. 

            The “Vial of Life” Program was initiated.  Critical personal and medical information was placed in a small, plastic capped cylinder to be worn by the individual.  It was a community venture promoted at Sacred Heart. 

            September 1980 marked six years that Monsignor Connolly had worked at Sacred Heart.  He completed a pastoral evaluation at that time.  The school was graded as good to excellent.  Parents were commended for active involvement.  The religious education program was assessed as being excellent for children, but non-existent for high school students; a youth program was needed.  Funds for further school programs were encouraged:  art, music, speech, and reading.  The existence of religious services in Italian was noted.

             In June 1980, Benjamin Joseph D’Arconte was ordained a permanent deacon at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Also in 1980, the Family Ministry Committee was formed; from this also evolved the Network of Care, a support system for parishioners.

             In June 1981, Monsignor Connolly, then a priest for twenty-five years, was appointed Vice Chancellor of the Archdiocese and Chairman of the Priests’ Personnel Board. He left Sacred Heart.

 The new pastor was Father John Wilkinson, the chaplain at Iona College.  Father Wilkinson had taught History at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Mercy College, St. Ursula, and Notre Dame College.  At the time, he was a candidate at Fordham University for his doctorate, which he soon after obtained.

            On Sunday, September 27, 1981, Catholic New York, the new Archdiocesan newspaper debuted.  The award-winning periodical has always been well read at Sacred Heart.

            During the winter of 1981, a windscreen was installed at the northeast entrance to the church, as gusts of wind had threatened to tear off the door at its hinges.  Also, a railing was installed at the Lawton Avenue parking lot.

            In December 1982, electric votive lights were introduced.  They were safer, cleaner, and less expensive than wax candles.

            On October 6, 1983, Cardinal Cooke succumbed to cancer.  Sacred Heart held a memorial Mass on October 16.

            The All Hallows Eve Mass was first started, at which children were blessed in their Halloween costumes. That year, the Giving Tree was “planted.”

             In March 1984, John J. O’Connor was installed as eighth archbishop of New York.  A year later, he would be appointed to the College of Cardinals. During the summer of 1984, a devastating fire engulfed stores on East Hartsdale Avenue.  A number of parishioners were affected, and Sacred Heart created a Fire Fund.  The following summer, Father Wilkinson petitioned for a traffic signal at Central and Lawton Avenues.  While no signal was installed, Sacred Heart has been blessed with crossing guards for Sunday Masses.

             For Sacred Heart’s sixtieth anniversary in 1986, special liturgies were held on November 8 and 9.  There was a parish party with music by Bill Donovan on November 14.  The Carillon bells were installed in December.

             On October 5, 1988, Monsignor Brown, the third pastor, died following a two and one-half year battle with cancer and was buried from Sacred Heart Church.  Present was his brother, the Most Reverend Charles Brown, M.M. of Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

             In 1990, the world-wide-web was born.  Air-conditioning was installed at Sacred Heart.

             On February 23, 1992, Father Divya Paul arrived at Sacred Heart.  He is a member of the Secular Institute of Our Lady. He was ordained in April 1991.  His initial assignments involved organizational work for the Institute, and so Sacred Heart was his first parish.  On April 29, 2001, the twelve-thirty Mass was celebrated in thanksgiving for Father Paul’s tenth anniversary.  Following Mass, the parish gathered in the school gymnasium for a reception honoring Sacred Heart’s “Renaissance man.”

             Also in 1992, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Arts for Transit commissioned twenty life-size figures, which were placed between the tracks at the Hartsdale Railroad Station.  The Corten-plate statues are named “Workers,” and their artist is Tom Nussbaum.

            During 1994, another fire occurred on East Hartsdale Avenue.  The parish again helped those involved.

 In 1995, Pope John Paul II visited New York and appointed Father Wilkinson a Monsignor.

             On December 15, 1997, Monsignor Connolly, the fifth pastor, died.  Following his assignment as Vice Chancellor, he had been sent to St. Joseph’s, Bronxville, where he was pastor for twelve years. As a memorial in gratitude, the vestibule of St. Joseph’s Church is graced by a beautiful icon of its patron saint.

            On April 17, 1998, a celebration was held honoring Monsignor Wilkinson on his fiftieth             anniversary of ordination.  Six months later marked the twentieth anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate.

  After serving Sacred Heart for seventeen years, Monsignor Wilkinson retired.  The priest sent to lead Sacred Heart into the twenty-first century is Monsignor Patrick J. Carney.  He arrived on July 1, 1998.

             Monsignor Carney was born in Manhattan and grew up in St. Gregory’s parish.  He celebrated his forty-fifth anniversary of ordination in May 2000.  Monsignor earned a Masters of Social Work from Fordham University and served as Director of Catholic Charities for Duchess and Ulster Counties.  He had worked in several parishes throughout the Archdiocese.

             In May, 2000, Cardinal O’Connor died, and in June, Edward M. Egan became the ninth archbishop of New York.  In 2001, he was named Cardinal.

             Sacred Heart has been blessed with three recently arrived religious institutions: the Blessed Sacrament Sisters now living in their monastery on Dromore Road, Our Lady of Shkodra Church on West Hartsdale Road to serve Catholics of Albanian descent, and Marian Woods, an institute for assisted living on Ridge Road for fifty religious from five different communities: The Sisters of Mercy, Blauvelt Dominicans, Franciscan Sisters of Peace, Blessed Sacrament Sisters, and Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus.

             The heart of Sacred Heart is the Liturgy itself.  There are at least three daily Masses and five Sunday Masses, all well attended and all intentioned well in advance.  Father Divya Paul celebrated the last Vigil Mass of the year 1999.  In his homily, Father noted that so much had been written and discussed regarding “the place to be” on that night, the last of the twentieth century.  He told the congregation, “This is the best place to be.” The parishioners heartily agreed.

 Camille Schiano, Richard Casterella and Monsignor Carney have prepared this history. Please, dear reader, regard it as a work in progress.