{"nrhp_refnum":"78002340","name":"St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W of Cowansville off PA 268, Sugarcreek Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cowansville","county":"Armstrong County","state":"PA","lat":40.89603705900004,"lon":-79.67671744999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-03-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small oak log Catholic church in rural Sugar Creek Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, measuring 22 by 35 feet, with a gable roof and a low rear gallery. It was built beginning in 1805 for the Saint Patrick's congregation.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the log church was the center of Catholic worship in the early Western Pennsylvania wilderness and the foundation of the congregation. It also notes the building served as a valuable place of worship during the congregation's troubles of the 1870s, after the brick church burned in 1872.","narrative":"Built of squared oak logs with triangular notches, chinked with straw and clay, this small church stands in rural Sugar Creek Township, Armstrong County. Construction began in the fall of 1805 after Father Lawrence Sylvester Phelan moved to the area to serve the Irish settler congregation, which had arrived in 1795 and first settled in Donegal Township, Butler County. Nails were not available to finish the roof, so it was not covered until spring. The interior is plain, with a wooden altar on a single step, a puncheon floor, and a low gallery at the rear supported by log poles and a massive oak beam. Stations of the Cross are burned into the wall logs. A brick church built in 1840 burned in January 1872, and the log church again became the center of worship until a new building was completed in 1876. The log church is valued as the foundation of Catholic worship in Western Pennsylvania.","period_of_significance":"1805-1806","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The church is used only occasionally today, according to the document.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.794504-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/78002340.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002340/771af3b9ba-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002340/771af3b9ba-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"J. Frison","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StPatricksChurch-ArmstrongCoPA-2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">J. Frison</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StPatricksChurch-ArmstrongCoPA-2.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995180","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Roman_Catholic_Church_(Cowansville,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7590981"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/armstrong-county/st-patricks-roman-catholic-church-78002340/"}