In the beginning...no building and no people
St. Martin of Tours Church began as a mission in part of the area of St. Clare's parish in 1912. The first pastor, Father John McNally, had to go out into the orchards and farmlands which filled in the valley at that time to find the first parishioners. Since there was no church built at this time, the first Masses of the mission were celebrated in a hall above a grocery store on the corner of San Carlos Street and (what was later named) Bascom Avenue (formerly Infirmary Road.) The people then raised money to buy some land a few doors down the street, and built a small frame building (as shown in photo above) in 1914. About that time the mission was elevated to the status of parish.
A New Church Building
The parish grew and flourished for many years until, in the1940's, plans were made for buying new land and building a new church. The new church building - which is the present church - was completed in 1953, and a hall and rectory were also built to accompany the church. The aerial photo of the church, shown here on the left, was taken around 1954, before the freeway, shopping center, etc.
The church was built in a simple A-frame style. Natural wood was incorporated throughout much of the interior, along with a cement slab floor and carpeted sanctuary. Although the first church on San Carlos Street had stained glass windows, the new church had only clear windows which brought natural light into the church.
Father Butler
The photo at right shows Father William Butler and two children in front ofthe newly built church in 1953. Although the parish had just finished this massive purchasing and building project, the parish felt the need to continue their efforts by also building a parish school, so more fund-raising was begun. The new school (which included only the portion of the school that is now the "Junior High Wing" class rooms, offices, library and day care) was completed in 1955.
Father Butler was pastor during the years when the new church, school, hall, and convent were built.
A New School
After the original school was built in 1955, the parish continued to grow since the area was rapidly being filled with tracts for the post-war baby-boom of families. Four additional classrooms were built in 1959 and another four in 1961. All grades had two classes at this time. The highest school enrollment was 800 students in 1963, with another 900 attending "C.C.D." classes. Weekly mass attendance was over 3000 people.
Vatican II Church
Gradually, the changes of Vatican II began to be seen in St. Martin's parish church, as lay ministers became trained to serve as lectors and eucharistic ministers. Adult education, pastoral outreach, and the beginning of the children's pre-school program were among the growing opportunities for parishioners' ministry during the 1970's.
"Space-Age Church"
Read about Monsignor Timothy O'Brien's contributions to St. Martin's Parish as pastor from 1979 to 1990.
In the 1980s, the interior of the church was completely renovated according to Vatican II guidelines. The parish received an award for its renovation process.
(The information on this page was largely gathered from St. Martin's 75th Anniversary Book, edited by Arlene Goetze in 1989.)
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