• Early History

  
  
  
  [The following information is taken “as is” from History of the Catholic Church in the New England States, by Very Rev. WM. Byrne, D.D.; WM. A Leahy, A.B.; Rev. J.J. McCoy; Rev. Jas. H. O’Donnell; Rev. A. Dowling; Rev. John E. Finen; Edmund J.A. Young; and Rt. Rev. John S. Michaud, D.D., Volume 1, the Hurd & Everts Co. Boston, 1899.]
   
  PENACOOK, NH - IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH
  
  Penacook, the original name of Concord, comprises the thriving manufacturing village at the mouth of the Contoocook. Formerly, it was the independent township of Fisheville; but it is now a ward of Concord. Martin Sherlock is said to have been the first Catholic to locate in Penacook. He came in 1850, and was followed in 1852 by John Lenehan (father of Col. John C. Lenehan, State Insurance Commissioner), John Gahagan, Patrick Doyle, John Dolan, Michael Flannagan, Kiernan Pendergast, Edward Taylor, James Brennan, John Thornton, Patrick Relly, and Andrew Kernan.
  
  Father McDonald visited the town about this period; but the first Mass was said by Father Daly in the shanty occupied by Michael Bolger. In 1855, Father O’Reilly, of Concord, made several visits, and after his death came Father John O’Donnel, of Nashua, saying Mass once a month in the house of Mrs. Cooney.
  
  On the appointment of Father Barry to the pastorate, Penacook became one of his missions, and was visited by him once a fortnight. In June, 1867, the old Methodist meeting-house was purchased by the parish committee for the sum of $2,050, $900 of which was paid at the end of three months, the balance being discharged in November of the following year. The building was dedicated under the patronage of St. John the Baptist in 1870. A Mason & Hamlin organ was purchased the same year. 
  
  A resident pastor was sent in the person of Rev. M. P. Danner in July, 1880. He bought a house on High street, which served as a rectory, and made some efforts to erect a suitable church; but death thwarted his plans. In September, 1881, Rev. John T. McDonnell, who for thirty-four years had been pastor of Haverhill, Mass., succeeded to the charge of Penacook. On his transfer to Rochester, in 1885, Rev. Louis M. Wilde became pastor.
  
  Father Wilde sold the High street rectory and bought a brick house on Summer street. Land for burial purposes was given him by the Cemetery Association of the town prior to his departure to Hinsdale in 1888. In June of this year Rev. Martin H. Egan took charge of Penacook. During his pastorate he repaired the church and remodeled the rectory, which he supplied with a hot-water heating apparatus. On his appointment to Lebanon in November, 1893, after paying all outstanding indebtedness, he left the sum of $1,800 in the church treasury. He was immediately succeeded by the present rector, Rev. Denis F. Hurley.
  
  Father Hurley was born in Bantry, Cork, Ireland, in 1851, coming in infancy with his parents to Salem. He studied successively at the parish school, Salem; St. Charles’ College, Baltimore, and the Grand Seminary, Montreal, where he was professor of English for one year. In 1873 he went to England, continuing his theological studies at Mill Hill, London. Ordained in July, 1875, he continued his studies until the following November, when he sailed for the United States with the intention of serving on the negro missions of the South.
  
  He labored in Baltimore, Louisville, and Charleston, S.C., where he was pastor of St. Peter’s church from 1876 to 1882, when failing health obliged him to return to Baltimore. While gathering in the colored harvest he baptized Father Uncles, the first negro priest ordained in this country. In 1884 the condition of Father Hurley’s health rendered further sojourn in the South impossible. After a short stay in Massachusetts, he became a member of the diocese of Manchester, officiating at Manchester, Keene, and Portsmouth.
  
  In July, 1887, he was sent to Littleton as pastor, where he bought a parish-house and cemetery, and repaired the church. From Littleton, he was transferred to Penacook. Since his advent to this town Father Hurley has wrought a wonderful transformation in the material aspect of the parish. Four days after his coming here he secured the present parochial estate, situated on Pleasant, Maple and High streets, at a cost of $5,000. He then sold the old rectory, remodeling the handsome dwelling that was included in the recent purchase for parsonage uses.
  
  In 1896, he built St. John’s Hall for society meetings and parish entertainments; and at he beginning of the following year, all the debt incurred by the acquisition of the new property had been discharged. Then he began to build the new church which was dedicated by Bishop Bradley in November, 1897. 
  
  The church of the Immaculate Conception occupies a superb site and presents a very imposing appearance. It is a frame structure set on a solid granite foundation. The facade displays a projecting tower, surmounted by an octagonal spire, and is further relieved by a gabled wing jutting laterally from either side, with good effect. Three Romanesque portals, each crowned with a double window, greatly add to the beauty of the facade. 
  
  The interior arrangement is designed to give an unobstructed view, and shows a splendid Roman vault. The side-aisle ceilings are treated in fan-vaulting, forming Roman arches on the side  walls over the windows. The chancel, which is apsed, is lighted by two Roman windows of stained glass, on which are portrayed the figures of the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Virgin, the gifts of Bishop Bradley and Father Hurley.
  
  The whole interior is beautifully decorated in buff and gold.  Three very chaste altars are done in cream and gold, while the pews are of oak. The building is lighted by electricity and heated by two furnaces. The architects of this truly beautiful structure  were Chickering and O’Connell, of Manchester.