Magyarok Nagyasszonya R. K. Egyházközség

The history of the Church of Our Lady of Hungary in Alpha began in the early 20th century with the formation of a Hungarian Catholic community that developed around the local cement factory. According to the official history of today’s St. Mary Parish in Alpha, Hungarian immigrants held a meeting as early as 1902 to discuss the purchase of land and the construction of a church; shortly thereafter, the parish was established and the church was built. Hungarian sources mention Károly Radóczy as the initiator of the pioneering organizational work; subsequently, the names of Károly Policsek, József Czirbusz, János Hlebik, Benvenut Jászai, and József Vadas are associated with the community’s history. The church became the center of religious and community life for local Hungarian Catholics, and as late as 1943, they celebrated its 40th anniversary. The parish later reached its golden jubilee, but by the second half of the 20th century, its distinct Hungarian character had gradually faded into the background. By the 1970s, the name of the Church of Our Lady of the Hungarians had already disappeared from the list of Hungarian churches; however, it is highly likely that the community’s institutional continuity lived on in today’s St. Mary Parish in Alpha. According to the current parish history, the original church was demolished in 1973, so the former Hungarian church no longer stands in its original form; however, its memory remains part of the history of the city of Alpha and the American Hungarian Catholic past.