{"id":635,"date":"2015-11-11T20:00:20","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T20:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/?p=635"},"modified":"2023-06-12T21:37:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T21:37:43","slug":"st-anns-church-history-through-postcards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/st-anns-church-history-through-postcards\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Ann’s Church History through Postcards"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love to collect postcards of the Wildwoods from the early 1900s, including many postcards of houses of worship. The Catholic churches of St. Ann\u2019s and Holy Apostles are of particular interest to me because my family attended Sunday services for many summers before we moved to Wildwood Crest, coincidentally around the time that the Church of the Assumption opened. \u00a0
\nI became curious when I noticed two very old cards of two different white buildings identified as St. Ann\u2019s. I also noticed that St. Ann\u2019s Church on Atlantic Avenue had changed names in the past.
\nBased on research in the Wildwood Historical Society, including the book A Century of Memories 1912-2012, I learned that the first church building of St. Ann\u2019s was located on the northeast corner of Roberts and Holly Beach Avenue (present-day New Jersey Avenue). The first service in Holly Beach (which later become part of Wildwood) was held on September 5, 1897. The church was moved to Garfield and Pacific Avenues in April 1903.
\n\"SunStAnn1\"<\/a>
\nSt Ann\u2019s Catholic Church & Parish House,
\nHolly Beach, N.J.
\nPublisher WIldwood Post Card Co. Circa 1908
\nFrom the Chris White Postcard Collection<\/p>\n

By 1907-08, the parish outgrew the church building, and a new church and rectory were built on Pacific Avenue between Glenwood and Magnolia.
\n\"SunStAnn2\"<\/a>
\nSt. Ann\u2019s Church (on far right) and Rectory
\nPublisher Geo. E. Mousley. Circa 1910
\nFrom the Chris White Postcard Collection<\/p>\n

In 1926 a second floor was added to the church and became St. Ann\u2019s School. Rectory is on its left. Publisher Geo. E. Mousley. Circa 1933
\nFrom the Chris White Postcard Collection
\nThe church on Pacific Avenue outgrew its space once again, so in 1919 a new church was constructed on Atlantic Avenue between Glenwood and Magnolia. It is this postcard of a white building with an orange roof, \u201cSt. Ann\u2019s Auditorium, Atlantic Ave, between Glenwood and Magnolia Aves.,\u201d that prompted me to continuing searching for what happened to this buildling.
\nI discovered that in December 1929 the first St. Ann\u2019s Auditorium burned to the ground.
\n\"SunSt.Ann3\"<\/a>
\nThe first St. Ann\u2019s Auditorium on Atlantic Avenue
\nPublisher Lynn H. Boyer. Circa 1926
\nFrom the Chris White Postcard Collection
\nPlans were made to quickly rebuild the church at its same location on Atlantic Avenue, but this time it was built with an even larger capacity. In May 1930 the new St. Ann\u2019s Auditorium on Atlantic Avenue was dedicated.
\nThe second St. Ann\u2019s Auditorium on Atlantic Avenue
\n\"SunSt.Ann4\"<\/a>
\nPublisher Tichnor Bros. Date unknown.
\nFrom the Chris White Postcard Collection
\nBob Bright, Jr., a former historian of the Wildwood Historical Society, often told the story that the new church building was completed in several months time, largely due to the hiring of many unemployed bricklayers and other construction workers in Philadelphia and elsewhere who had lost their jobs because of the stock market crash in October 1929.
\nIn 1943, St. Ann\u2019s Auditorium was renovated and redecorated, including new stained glass window depicting the twelve apostles; its name was changed to the Church of the Holy Apostles. \u00a0In 1955, the church became a year-round house of worship after heat was added, and its name was changed from Church of the Holy Apostles to St. Ann\u2019s Church. So that explains why there are postcards that depict the same church building on Atlantic Avenue but with different names over the years!
\n\"SunSt.Ann5\"<\/a>
\nChurch of the Holy Apostles (formerly St. Ann\u2019s Auditorium) Publisher Lynn H. Boyer. Early 1950\u2019s.
\nFrom the Chris White Postcard Collection
\nSince 2010, St. Ann\u2019s and the Church of the Assumption in Wildwood Crest now comprise Notre Dame de la Mer Parish (Our Lady of the Sea).
\nIt wasn\u2019t until I started collecting old postcards that I became aware of the various changes in the names and locations and actual buildings of St. Ann\u2019s. I was surprised to discover some of the reasons why. You never know what you\u2019ll learn when collecting old postcards.
\n\"SunSt.Ann6\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love to collect postcards of the Wildwoods from the early 1900s, including many postcards of houses of worship. The Catholic churches of St. Ann\u2019s and Holy Apostles are of particular interest to me because my family attended Sunday services for many summers before we moved to Wildwood Crest, coincidentally around the time that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,1,4],"tags":[10,81,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}