Catholic Churches in Oconee
and Pickens Counties
In 1842, the Blue Ridge Railroad decided to build a
railroad through Stumphouse Mountain to link Charleston, SC with Knoxville, TN.
Several hundred Irishmen, (mostly Catholic) and German immigrants were hired. A
new settlement, Tunnel Hill, was established near the construction job and
several miles northwest of present day Walhalla. St. Patrick’s, the first
Catholic Church west of Columbia, SC was built there and flourished until 1859.
The lack of state funding and the Civil War resulted in suspension of the tunnel
project. Most laborers returned north; a few remained in the Upstate. The church
was used and ravaged by homeless Civil War conscripts. In 1871, the last Mass
was celebrated in the remaining church. After that, Mass was celebrated in homes
when a mission priest was available, sometimes not for months.
In 1916, St. Francis Church, a mission church, was built
in Walhalla. Parishioners donated the land, the lumber, and the manpower. There
were less than twelve Catholic families in Walhalla, yet there were other Catholics,
who were
farmers, who came from miles around to attend church. Mission territory was headquartered in
Columbia, Greenville, and then Anderson.
In 1935, St. Andrew’s Chapel was built for the Catholic
cadets at Clemson College. The Gothic-style Chapel was constructed of granite
quarried in nearby Elberton, GA. The seating capacity of the new church was
eighty-four and the Bishop's observation to the thirty people attending the
dedication was, "Perhaps we have overbuilt."
By 1940, Oconee and Pickens Counties were ready to become
a separate parish numbering 128 Catholics and 52 cadets. The Paulist fathers
were asked to serve the two counties. They hoped not only to serve and educate
the Catholic population, but also to promote better understanding with their
Protestant neighbors. Due to the proximity of Clemson College, St. Andrew’s
became the center of the new church. St. Francis became known as the "out-mission."
There were about thirty, mainly Czechoslovakian, Catholic
families living in Fair Play. In 1943, St. Ann’s Church was built. In 1944, a
Catholic businessman from Philadelphia established a textile woolen mill,
employing many of the parishioners. However, the project eventually failed,
leading to St. Ann’s demise.
Throughout the 1960’s, many new industries moved into
Oconee County. In 1973, Duke Power Company built Lake Keowee. These changes
brought many people from the Midwest and Northeast; and the Catholic population
grew. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, St. Francis was expanded, adding a new meeting
room, classrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen facilities. In 1985 and 1986, Piedmont
Quilting Company moved from N.Y. and N.J. to Walhalla. As many of their
employees moved with them, a Spanish Mass began to be celebrated at St. Francis.
Anticipating future growth, in 1987, land was bought on
Bountyland Road, northwest of downtown Seneca. Both St. Francis and St. Andrew’s
were overcrowded. In 1994, St. Paul the Apostle Church was built. The parishes
of St. Francis and St. Andrew’s celebrated the Christmas Masses jointly that
year. In the words of Father Charles Kullman, CSP, who was instrumental in
acquiring the property and starting the building project: "We celebrate
because we have hope; hope in our future in this area that we will become, more
and more, not just an exotic transplant from someplace else, but a truly
indigenous church – genuine South Carolina Catholics."
-- Submitted by: Jane Papineau
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