Saint Andrew's Roman Catholic Rectory

Saint Andrew's Rectory stands on a triangle of land between Talbot Avenue and Colson Street in North Billerica, at the south end of the mill village built by The Talbot Mills. The land was part of the homestead farm that Daniel Wilson put together in 1831-1832 from the old canal and Mears lands along the road to Billerica Center. After his death in 1861 the farm passed through James Faulkner and Gardner Parker, and in 1883 the fourteen acres along Colson Street were bought by Charles P. Talbot and Thomas Talbot, who conveyed them to The Talbot Mills in 1884. The company laid out Talbot Avenue in 1894, built its double houses on the east side, and in 1901 sold the town the lot north of this one for the new Talbot School.

St. Andrew's parish had worshipped since 1868 in the old Universalist meetinghouse moved to Rogers Street, served by Oblate priests from Lowell. When the Archdiocese of Boston took over the parish in 1913, its first resident pastor, Rev. David J. Murphy, boarded at 38 Elm Street. At their annual meeting of November 30, 1914 the stockholders of The Talbot Mills voted to sell the Archbishop "a triangular parcel of land situated in North Billerica, containing one and three-tenths (1 3/10) acres", bounded north by the town's school land, east by Talbot Avenue and west by Colson Street, for $1,500. The deed was signed by the treasurer, Thomas Talbot Clark, on December 17 and recorded on December 23, 1914, with Clark's plan of the lot (57,049 square feet).

The rectory was built in 1916-1917. The 1916 directory still lists Father Murphy at 38 Elm Street, and the 1917-1918 directory puts him on Talbot Avenue. The church itself remained on Rogers Street until the new stuccoed church by O'Connell and Shaw was built beside the rectory; its building permit is dated September 23, 1919. To pay for it, Archbishop William H. O'Connell mortgaged the lot "with the buildings thereon" to the Lowell Trust Company for $20,000 on April 2, 1920 and for another $10,000 on December 4, 1920. The parish paid off the second loan in 1926 and the first in 1929. In 1921 town meeting voted $650 for a cement sidewalk on Talbot Avenue "fronting St. Andrew's Church and Rectory", provided the abutters gave the same.

The only later change in the lot was small: when the County Commissioners relocated and widened Colson Street in 1922, they took about 300 square feet from the Archbishop, with no damages awarded. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston still owns the land, which the assessor lists as the St. Andrew parsonage. The parish merged with St. Mary's and St. Theresa of Lisieux into St. Matthew the Evangelist Parish in 2020, and the rectory and church remain in use. Both buildings are in the North Billerica National Register district (1983) and the local historic district (1992).

References

1. MACRIS BIL.232
2. St. Andrew Parish History - BillericaCatholic.org
3. Billerica assessor, account 1484 (parcel 15-192-0): Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston (St. Andrew parsonage), 45-49 Talbot Av, "SAINT ANDREWS RECTORY"
4. Lowell Suburban Directory 1916: David J. Murphy, pastor St. Andrew's Church, house 38 Elm, North Billerica
5. Lowell Suburban Directory 1917-1918: Murphy David J (R C), Talbot ave, North Billerica
6. Billerica town report 1921, Article 15: $650 for a cement sidewalk on Talbot Avenue "fronting St. Andrew's Church and Rectory"

Title References Expand all

Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.