St. Mary of the Assumption Church and School

St. Mary Of The Assumption Church and School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
40°38′24″N 111°29′38″W / 40.64000°N 111.49389°W / 40.64000; -111.49389
Area	less than one acre
Built	1884 (1884)
NRHP reference No.	79002512[1]
Added to NRHP	January 25, 1979

Saint Mary of the Assumption is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Park City, Utah, United States, in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Its historic former parish church, built in 1884 after a fire destroyed an earlier church during July 4 celebrations, is the oldest extant Catholic church in Utah and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).^[1]

The church and school are located next to each other with a connection to the rear. Both buildings are rectangular buff limestone structures, the school two stories in height, the church taller, but one story in height. The church features a large Gothic arch at the center entrance, flanked by large sash windows, with two smaller sashes close together in the loft over the main arch. A small wooden belfry tops the church. The school, to the left of the church, has a similar but smaller facade, the Gothic arch replaced by a plain rectangular doorway, with a flue in place of the church's belfry. Since both buildings are on a hillside above the street, the lot is fronted by a tall stone retaining wall.^[2]

The first church was built in 1881 to serve Park City's largely non-Mormon mining community, an anomaly in the Mormon-dominated state. The mining boom in the area around Park City brought miners, many of them Catholic, from all parts of the country.^[2] The school was constructed in the early 1900s and staffed by the Sisters of the Holy Cross until its closure during the Great Depression.^[3]

The complex was placed on the NRHP as St. Mary of the Assumption Church and School on January 25, 1970.^[1] In 1991, Jim and Sally Ivers donated land for the construction of a new church, which was dedicated on August 15, 1997, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. The historic church is referred to as the Old Town Chapel.^[4]