PITTSBURGH – On April 19, 1926, an above-the-fold story in the Pittsburgh Gazette Times detailed the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese's Bishop Hugh Boyle officiating at the dedication of a new church and school in the city's upper-north-side neighborhood off Perrysville Avenue.

"The services, which began shortly after 10:30 a.m. consisted of a procession from the old church to the new building and a solemn dedication Mass."

An oversized photo of the Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, with hundreds of people standing outside the unique church building, accompanied the story. The building was designed to look like a stable, and inside were steep, angled wooden beams and an altar that had a beautiful hand-painted depiction of the birth of Jesus, done by a painter who immigrated from Germany and a local artist who was also a member of the parish.

The new church in the booming neighborhood, filled with thousands of working-class immigrants of German, Irish, Polish, and Italian families, also had classrooms underneath the chapel. All were "modernly equipped" to educate the students from these families, and the chapel itself was equipped to hold 500 people, not including the 100 or so who could fit in the chapel choir loft.

For the next 50 years, Nativity grew with the neighborhood. Along the four blocks of Perrysville Avenue, below the church, were scores of businesses: a five-and-dime, four hair salons, a bustling grocery store, a barber shop, a hardware store, a furniture store, several bakeries, two gas stations, two banks, a gun store, and a plumber.

In the early '50s, the church grew so much that a brand-new building to house the students was built across the street. A massive priory was also built below the church, and it was not an easy feat. The........

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