Please contact Anne Buening at (410)531-6040 if you are
interested in working on the parish history committee.  Help is needed with taping oral interviews, transcribing,  collating  old pictures, and more!

     

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Rev. Paul Griffith, 1887-1892

The third pastor of St. Louis Church was Father Paul Griffith, who was born near New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland, on June 7, 1846, the son of Thomas and Mary Griffith. He was one of fourteen children. The family came to New Orleans in 1850, but soon moved to Illinois, where Thomas Griffith became a successful farmer, and Paul attended the public schools. Coming to Washington to visit his brother, he entered the dry goods business. He was a government clerk for a time. He entered St. Charles College at the age of 30, and from there went to St. Mary's Seminary in 1881. He was ordained by His Eminence, James Cardinal Gibbons on December 18, 1886. His first assignment was as assistant to Father Hugh Griffin at Doughoregan Manor, and to take charge of the Mission at Clarksville. While here, he built the new church and rectory, which were finished in 1890. He was the first resident pastor at St. Louis. He was appointed pastor of St. Augustine's, Washington, on February 15, 1892. He was there for many years. Father Paul, as he was affectionately known, was one of the most highly esteemed priests in the Archdiocese, and was known for his executive ability. As we can testify, he was an excellent financier. He edited a multi-language ritual for the use of the clergy, which is still in wide use, and a prayer book for the laity. Father Griffith died on January 22, 1919. ¹

This early photograph shows the St. Louis Church rectory circa 1920. The two women standing in front of the porch were employed as housekeepers for the resident priests.

Rev. Sidney S. Hurlbut , 1900-1911

A competent engraver with the Bureau of Engraving in Washington and later with the American Bank Note Co. in Chicago, Sidney S. Hurlbut was the sixth pastor of St. Louis Church. He was a devout Presbyterian and a Congregationalist before he received the gift of faith in the Catholic Church. Father Hurlbut was born in Racine, Wisconcin, November 13, 1858. After entering the Catholic Church, he studied for the priesthood in Bulgaria where he was ordained. He spent a few months in Rome before returning to the United States. He was an assistant to Msgr. Mackin at St. Paul's Church, Washington until he was appointed pastor of St. Louis Church, Clarksville in 1900. He was here for eleven years and made many friends. In April 1911, he was appointed by Cardinal Gibbons to be pastor of St. Mary's Hagerstown. He was there for nine years, during which time he won the esteem and love of all people. He died in Mercy Hospital, Baltimore on June 9, 1920. He is buried in Racine, Wisconcin.¹

Rev. William Howard Bishop, 1917-1937

Father William Howard Bishop can best be described as a crusader for the development of Catholic rural life. He was the ninth pastor of St. Louis Church. He was born in Washington, D.C. on December 19, 1885, the fifth child of a family of six children. His mother had promised Our Lady in her prayers that she would give this boy to the priesthood if he recovered from a spell of pneumonia. His studies were delayed several times because of illness, but he was finally ordained on March 27, 1915 by Bishop Thomas J. Shahan at Catholic University. His first appointment was to St. Theresa's in Anacostia which was followed by an assignment to the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Mt. Washington. He was appointed pastor of St. Louis Church in Clarksville in 1917 where he remained for twenty years. Here it was that he learned at first hand the needs of Catholics living in rural areas. He realized how inadequate were the opportunities in the country for developing a strong faith in comparison with those offered even in small city parishes. His first thought was a parish school, and with that steadfastness of purpose which characterized his life, he first organized the League of St. Louis and with its help, he was able to open St. Louis School on October 1, 1923. The idea of the League was so successful that in 1924 the organization became The League of the Little Flower with the object of aiding Catholic education in country parishes throughout the Archdiocese. Father Bishop was mindful of the economic condition of his parishioners as well as their spiritual needs. In 1930 he was responsible for founding the St. Louis Credit Union in the Clarksville area. For a time he fostered a farmers' cooperative movement, but was not successful. But his influence on Catholic rural life was far broader than the parish or the diocese. He joined with the Most Rev. Bishop Edwin V. O'Hara in the organization of the National Rural Life Conference, and was its National President from 1927 to 1933. With the blessing of Archbishop Curley, Father Bishop left Clarksville in 1937 to found a new order of priests, The Home Missioners of America, at Glenmary, in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, for the purpose of working in the vast non-Catholic rural areas of America. He also founded the Glenmary Sisters. In a relatively short time, mission bases were established in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, and Georgia. He became Superior General for the Order in 1951, but his work was to be cut short when he died suddenly on June 11, 1953, the victim of a heart attack. All Clarksville was saddened by the news of his death.¹

In 1928 the parish put on an operetta titled "Wishing Well". This photo shows the cast members.

 

 

Rev. Joseph M. Walter, 1892-1895
Father Joseph M. Walter was the first pastor of St. Louis who was a native of the Archdiocese. He was born in Baltimore on January 26, 1867. After attending Calvert Hall College he entered St. Charles College at the age of 15. After five years his ill health compelled him to give up his studies. He went to Europe for a time and attended the American College at Rome for one year, again resigning because of sickness. He returned to Maryland, attended St. Mary's Seminary, and was ordained on January 29, 1892. His first charge was the pastorate of St. Louis Church, Clarksville, and the Manor parish. After a little over three years his health began to fail again. (This is evident in his handwriting in the church records). He obtained considerable benefit in the Adirondacks and returning to the Archdiocese he was assigned to St. Peter's Church, Westernport. In a short while he again had to relinquish his pastoral duties. He spent some time in Arizona, but to no avail. He returned to Baltimore, spent several months at St. Agnes Hospital, and died at the home of his father in March, 1898. Father Walter was endowed with a brilliant intellect, and a strong yearning for active parish work, which made him return again and again to his chosen work until his illness finally overpowered him. He will be remembered at Clarksville for the marble altar he secured for the church.¹

The League of the Little Flower of Our Country Schools sold these 1925 picture calendars to raise money for Catholic schools in the county. The text under the picture reads:

The Catholic children of rural Maryland ride on over paths of SPIRITUAL hardship and privation that have led too often in the past to religious indifference, apostasy, and infidelity. Few of them are blessed, as this child is, with a parochial school to go to. Where will next year lead them? and next, and next again? The annual Masses of our devoted clergy and the kind words they have spoken and will speak for the cause, the monthly Communions of our holy Brothers and Nuns and the generous contributions of our good faith people will help us gradually to realize the Archbishop's ideal of "Every Catholic Child in a Catholic School."

Unknown
If you can identify the priest in this photograph please contact Anne Buening at (410)531-6040.

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¹ The text was taken from a publication put together to commemorate the parish's 100th Anniversary, October 23, 1955 which was provided by Margaret Broadwater.

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