History

A little history about the church
Holy Family was established as a parish on November 16, 1952, when the Quonset building on the parking lot behind, now The Dollar Store (was Murphy’s 5 & 10 store) on 23rd Parkway was dedicated as a temporary church by Cardinal O’Boyle.  On November 24, 1965, ground was broken for the church and parish building and one year later the church and parish building were also dedicated by Archbishop O’Boyle, later Cardinal.

Eleven years later, on March 7, 1967, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the roof and did extensive damage to the interior of the church.  After investigation, it was decided that a complete rebuilding was necessary.  Nearby Shugart School (which closed its doors 2009) was used as a temporary church until renovations were completed in October 1967.

The pastor and council began discussing plans for building another church, since this was the original plan that was decided upon when the parish was established.  Some parishioners felt the rebuilt church was adequate and others felt that a new church should be built according to the prior agreement of earlier members.  After many meetings and much discussion a parish opinion pool was taken and by majority vote a plan was submitted to the Cardinal for approval.

On April 5, 1970, ground was broken for the new church.  The early parishioners were so happy that the permanent church was going to be built on the site of the property where one could view the Nation’s capital and where they had originally planned to build Holy Family Church.

The new church was dedicated by Cardinal O’Boyle on May 16, 1971.  Holy Family Parish celebrated its 50th Anniversary in November 2002.

Allen Drury was a long-time Parishioner of Holy Family.  He was a member of the Holy Name Society and the St. Vincent dePaul Society.  Allen was in charge of the building and grounds committee and assisted the Pastor when any problems came up around the facility.  He was a carpenter by trade and offered to contribute his time and talent in finishing the Parish Hall.  He did all of the original paneling and, as a result of that, in his honor the Parish Hall was named the Allen Drury Room.