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Holy Trinity Heritage Park
Holy Trinity Church, the first Catholic parish in New Albany, was built in Gothic style on this site in 1852 under the direction of French missionary priest and founding Pastor Rev. Louis Francis Neyron. After over 120 years, Holy Trinity was destroyed by fire at 4:30 am Monday, December 29, 1975. Parishioners joined St. Mary’s of the Annunciation and other Catholic churches located nearby.
Members of the former parish allocated funds from the insurance settlement to create Holy Trinity Heritage Court in 1977, planting 150 trees on the lot to commemorate Holy Trinity’s historical significance. Bricks, stones and the bronze bells from the church remained in the lot maintained by St. Mary’s for many years until Holy Trinity properties was gifted to St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities in 2011.
A seven-phase renovation plan, including turning the former rectory building into agency offices, expanding the shelters, completing affordable supportive housing units and building a distribution center on campus began in 2012. All of these projects were completed to meet the needs of St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities programs and restore the unique features of the historic preservation district. Holy Trinity Heritage Park represented the final phase of that plan.
In the spring of 2017, work began on Holy Trinity Heritage Park to preserve meaningful and treasured elements of the original church while creating a beautiful, usable, green space for our residents and the entire community to enjoy. Many of the original stones from the church have been repurposed to create benches and a new sign in front of St. Elizabeth’s agency offices.
Holy Trinity Heritage Park preserves many treasured and meaningful elements of the original church while creating a beautiful, usable, green space for the community to enjoy. Highlights include: a water feature with bronze sculpture, benches made from the stone windowsills of the church, the iconic Holy Trinity brass bells, an original historic plaque, and artwork with refurbished stained glass from Holy Trinity Church.
Additional elements have been added since 2017, including placement of church cornerstones at the four corners of the park, the use of three foundation stones to serve as a new sign for St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities, an Indiana limestone sculpture by artist William Kolok titled “Flee”, a travertine sidewalk, and a entrance way incorporating an original arched stained glass window from Holy Trinity Church.
Thanks to generous donors, two bronze statues, entitled “When I was Hungry and Thirsty” (left, dedicated in 2022) and “Fruit of Thy Womb” (dedicated in 2023), created by world-renowned Canadian Artist Timothy P. Schmalz were secured for the park.
For over 25 years, Timothy has been sculpting large scale sculptures. He is a figurative artist with his pieces installed worldwide. Some of his most reputed pieces are installed in historical churches in Rome and at the Vatican. Timothy describes his most important work as visual translations of the Bible. Although most of his work is based upon a spiritual theme, he also creates large, complex public sculptures in bronze.
