Saint Mary's Immaculate Conception Church was the first Roman Catholic Church in Luzerne county.

Rev. Father Henry Fitzsimmons came to the Wilkes-Barre area in Luzerne County, Pa., in 1842 and he established a parish and next built a small wooden church. In a record from 1894 it describes the location of this small wooden church and it's original burial ground. The small wooden church near where the St. Mary's Parochial school on South Canal Street now stands, the ground surrounding it being used as a burying place. The St. Mary's congregation grew so rapidly that the present brick parochial school was built as a church in 1845, and the present church on Washington Street erected in 1870.

The old burying ground was the first Catholic cemetery in the county in 1842 and it was abandoned by 1860, interments were then made in the cemetery on Darling Street, in Wilkes-Barre.

In and around 1894 Rev. Father McAndrew, pastor of St. Mary's Church, made an announcement at all the masses at that time, calling a meeting of all those who had friends buried in the old burying ground in the rear of the Parochial School, on Canal street, and stated that the bodies had to be disinterred to widen Fell street, and that he had decided to have all the bodies taken out. A large number of bodies have been removed and laid in the other cemeteries, but it was not mentioned which cemeteries they were moved to and the names of the persons that were being disinterred. There are probably over 300 bodies in the 100 feet square plot in the rear of the schools original St. Mary's Cemetery.

The following names are from records in 1894 describing what weather-beaten headstones still remained at the first burial grounds on Canal Street before they were disinterred to St. Mary's current day cemetery that was also once called Hanover Cemetery. As to where these 28 named persons where re-interred too is not mentioned here, one would have to contact the church and inquirer as to where they have been removed to, as to whether the church still has these records is unknown to me.

Supposedly the first original catholic cemetery had disinterred all of the remains from Canal Street, to Hanover Cemetery, however it is not mentioned if all of the remains were re-interred to Hanover Cemetery only. Meaning that all of the remains at this cemetery were relocated, in order to widen Fell Street. The purpose of this cemetery is to help researchers find and or learn what happened to the original cemetery and the persons buried here, even though it does not give a definite answer as to what happened to all the remains of the persons buried here.

In 1842 the wooden church building on Canal Street was built by Father Fitzsimons, and in 1845 a brick church was built on Canal Street, where the school is now. The congregation was mostly Germans and Irish, and in 1856 the members had so increased that it was deemed advisable to divide the congregation. The Germans took the wooden building and the Irish congregation the brick church, where is now St Mary's parochial school. The rectors of the German church were Fathers Schneider and Summer. Father Nagel, the present rector of St Nicholas church, came here in 1858 and conducted the first service in the then new church, now St Conrad's hall, corner of South and Washington streets.

Researcher - Mary Emmett Langdon 2-12-2014

Resources - From area newspapers in Luzerne county and The History of Luzerne published in 1893, by Bradsby