Medal of Honor Veterans
City of Holyoke, MA Medal of Honor Veterans
John MacKenzie, Raymond Beaudoin, and Joseph Muller are the three Medal of Honor men from Holyoke.
Raymond Beaudoin is buried in South Hadley at the Notre Dame Cemetery. (FINDAGRAVE)
Joseph Muller is buried in Honolulu Hawaii at the Cemetery of the Pacific. (FINDAGRAVE)
John MacKenzie is the only one buried in Holyoke since he is at the Forestdale Cemetery. (FINDAGRAVE)
Saint Jerome Total Abstinence, Mutual, Benevolent, and Literary Society (Holyoke)
The Saint Jerome Total Abstinence, Mutual, Benevolent, and Literary Society was near this corner. (236 Maple Street) It still stands but with facade greatly changed. It was a society for men from the Saint Jerome Church.
Also at this corner was the James O’Connor medical homes. He had constructed home for the ill that he was taking care of. SANBORN There now is the Holyoke Medical Center downtown campus. This is the former McAuslan-Waklin Store.
Holyoke Main United States Post Office
The Holyoke Post Office (650 Dwight Street) has been here since 1936. It was made as a WPA project. This is the 6th location of the central post office of Holyoke. The first was at Craft Tavern, the 2nd at the railroad station, the 3rd and the 4th at the Hotel Hamilton, and 5th at a building behind that hotel. Before the post office was put here, the Park Hotel was here.
Sanborn map analysis:
World War 2 Memorial in Holyoke Massachusetts
World War II 1941-1945 Dedicated in Honor of the 212 people from Holyoke who paid the supreme sacrifice and all others who served.
This memorial honors the 212 men that died in WW2 that lived in Holyoke. Ignatius Maternowski was a chaplain from Holyoke that died on D-Day. He was buried on the beaches of Normandy but three years later was reinterred in South Hadley at the Mater Dolorosa Cemetery. Across Dwight Street from this memorial was the Roswell Crafts house. It was a beautiful and unique home.
In a nearby tree, an electric outlet was added by the city in 1948 so that a radio could broadcast World Series games to older men who used the park.
The Phoenix is across the street from this WW2 memorial.
Civil War Memorial in Holyoke Massachusetts
This statue was made by Henry Jackson Ellicott in 1876. It was dedicated on July 4th of that year. It symbolizes Columbia in the traditional classical attire but with the implements of Nike the Greek Goddess of Victory. Columbia holds her shield at her side and her laurel wreath only half high. She also faces to the south. These characteristics imply that the defeat of the South was hard fought and tiring. But she wants the South to rejoin the North and will not gloat over a victory. Her garments and her star-rimmed cap are those of Columbia – the symbol of America. Columbia here has a belt bucket with US printed on it. Liberty never had these symbols. Columbia was the female symbol of America from the 1730s to the early 1920s. Thus this statue is Columbia with Nike symbols and not Lady Liberty.
This statue was restored in 2022. LINK to news – LINK to repairs report. In 1959 and in 1962 chemical cleaning of the copper was attempted.
The Civil War Memorial honors those that died in that war that lived in Holyoke. Officially, it is called the Soldiers Monument of Hampden Square. Thomas Holman the second one down on the eastern side and James Burr the 5th one down are the only ones buried in Holyoke. The rest are buried at the war sites.
In Memory of Our Volunteers Who Died for the Union 1861-1865
Names of the Civil War deaths of Holyoke with death dates and locations.
| statue in Veterans’ Park | Columbia |
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Saint Jerome Rectory in Holyoke
The Saint Jerome Rectory was finished in 1880. It is built in the Second Empire style. The first rectory of Saint Jerome’s was at a home on the northeast corner of Dwight and Elm Streets (108 Elm Street). Father Harkins did not like it there so he had the new rectory built. James Sullivan had purchased the first rectory in October of 1859.
Priests who worked at the schools and the church lived there and so did the house staff. Grace and Catherine Harkins lived there as staff for many years.
| pastor | name | start | end | burial | |
| 1st | Jeremiah O’Callaghan | 1854 | May 1858 | Saint Jerome Churchyard (Holyoke) | |
| 2nd | James Sullivan |  | May 1858 | 1866 | Holyhood Cemetery (Brookline) |
| 3rd | Patrick Harkins |  | 1866 | 1910 | Saint Jerome Cemetery (Holyoke) |
| 4th | James T Madden |  | Jan 1 1911 | 1922 | Saint Jerome Cemetery (Holyoke) |
| 5th | John F Fagan |  | 1923 | 1942 | Saint Jerome Cemetery (Holyoke) |
| 6th | Andrew Martin | 1944 | 1969 | Saint Jerome Cemetery (Holyoke) | |
| 7th | Maurice Martin | 1970 | 1975 | unknown | |
| 8th | Francis Xavier Boyle | 1975 | 1986 | Saint John’s Cemetery (Worcester) | |
| 9th | Daniel Foley | 1987 | 2005 | Saint Jerome Cemetery (Holyoke) | |
| 10th | Wiliam Lunney | 2006 | 2018 | ||
Saint Jerome’s Institute in Holyoke
Saint Jerome’s Institute opened in 1872 as the first boys’ school ever in the old Springfield Diocese. It was a three floor structure. In the beginning it served not only as a school but also as a chapel for the church.
The Sisters of Providence were recruited in 1875 to teach there replacing Grace Harkins – sister of the pastor. They lived in nearby homes until 1890 when the Convent of Saint Vincent de Paul was built. The second and third floors were gutted and replaced with an auditorium (which doubled as a gym) in 1943. Depending upon which floor one was talking about it was called the Saint Jerome’s Institute or the Saint Jerome’s Gymnasium.
Immaculate Conception of Notre Dame School in Holyoke
Lastly is the Notre Dame School. Built in 1883 as a girls’ school, it continued to expand for years. By 1895 some high school classes had been added. In 1910 the Saint Jerome High School opened within the building. There were no graduate until June of 1913. An important change at the school caused this. In 1912 the Sisters of Saint Joseph took over at all the Saint Jerome Schools. They were devoted to education unlike the other group of nuns. Thus they were better teachers and the students learned more. The main convent was also renamed and the second convent was turned into administrative offices and classrooms. Notice its formal name above the doorway: School of the Immaculate Conception of Notre Dame de Lourdes. This might be the longest name in Holyoke. In September of 1916 there was the first coed school on campus since the high school became a combined gender school. Finally, in 1923 the schools were all renamed Saint Jerome School and High School and all became coed.
This Saint Jerome School would have sports teams and their nickname would be the Jerries.
In 1963 Holyoke Catholic High School would form from the union of three Catholic high schools around the city – the oldest Sacred Heart, the Rosary, and then St Jerome. They would meet in this building. St Jerome School was disbanded and students would go to Sacred Heart School. This merger into Holyoke Catholic High School was helped along by the 1947 merger of the three schools into one athletic team. Rosary High School was the oldest sports teams at 1910, Saint Jerome started its sports program in 1916, and Sacred Heart in 1920.
As an aside the school population of each high school in 1950 was Sacred Heart – 194, St Jerome – 187, and Rosary – 157.
Saint Jerome Cemetery was expanded in 1904 from its original expanse along Saint Jerome Avenue to include all land to Northampton Street. Father Harkins, his parents, his brother Daniel, and his two sisters Grace and Catherine are buried in the same family plot. It is located along the only north-south crossing road.
Saint Jerome Temperance Hall was located along Maple Street. The group was founded in 1857. The group is called Saint Jerome Total Abstinence Mutual, Benevolent, and Literary Society. Earlier it had been called the Holyoke Catholic Mutual Benevolent Society. The hall had a musical group, a library, and more. The hall was made in 1868 and Father Harkins was made the spiritual head.
Father Harkins Home for Elderly Women in Holyoke
The Father Harkins Home for Elderly Women was at first in the former rectory. Then in 1898 a brick building was constructed along Elm Street for them. The Beavan Home for Men was start at Ingleside in 1893. (The men would get a new building there in 1907.) The Father Harkins Home for Elderly Women was built solely with money from the priest’s savings. From 1895 to 1898 the women stayed at the Mount St Vincent house until this home was readied.
Patrick Harkins and his entire family was involved in the growth of the St Jerome’s Parish. My thought is that his family was also contributing to the financial development of the parish.
| name | occupation | birth | death |
| Daniel | father | 6 Feb 1883 | |
| Rosana O’Doherty | mother | 3 Jan 1889 | |
| Patrick | pastor | 1833 in Dunfanaghy | 4 Dec 1910 |
| Catherine | housekeeper | 12 July 1895 | |
| Daniel | dentist | 29 Apr 1896 | |
| Grace | organist | 9 Feb 1912 | |
| Bridget | 30 Nov 1874 | ||
| Cornelius | dental supply sales | 9 June 1903 | |
Convent of the Sisters of Saint Joseph in Holyoke
This convent was the second one built on this campus and they both still exist. It was first made for the Sisters of Providence in 1890 and then in 1912 housed the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
