St John the Baptist Church Historical Society

Simbang Gabi Night 3. Tonight for our history we will cover from 1954 when Milpitas, California became a city to 1969 when our second church was condemned. There is also some time spent on the life of Victor Pavalkis. This is part 3 of a 4 part series.

Simbang Gabi History Night 2. Tonight we focus on 1901, when our 1st church burned and 2nd church began construction. All the way to 1954 when Milpitas, California became a city. This is presentation 2 of a 4 part series for the 140th anniversary of St. John's as a parish.

Night 1 of Simbag Gabi. And I presented part 1 of 4 of the parish history. I hope to expand on each of these. Call it the directors cut... But I am limited to about 4 minutes each (shh some are 5 1/2 minutes... Sorry Fr Richie) but here is a replay of what was shown tonight before mass. We chose to end this first video with the distruction of our frist church.

Saint John's was the first parish in the bay area to hold Simbug Gabi Masses. In honor of this we will be having short talks before the Mass of Simbug Gabi. The first 4 nights will be presenting our history. Night 1 is planned to be the beginning to 1901, 2nd night 1901 to 1954, 3rd night 1954 to 1970, and last night 1970 to present day. So come early to Mass

150 years ago this year a need was determined to have a church in the little area that soon would come to be known as "Milpitas" We are looking for any pictures you may have in your collections of the old church and grounds. Something older than 1973... Also any pictures of our halls pre 1989...

Everyone is invited to come to our Parish Hall 279 South Main Street on Sunday for our boutique.

Did you know that the stained glass windows in the church are older than the church? The two stained glass windows near where the choir sits and the three at the front of the church in the vestibule candle room and crying rooms were made in 1970 to 1972 for the new chruch. However the rest of the stained glass windows are the reason why they exist and can be traced back to the determination of on man. When the old church on Main Street was condemned it didnt look like the wi...ndows could or would be saved. But Henry Able would not accept that and personally paid to have the windows removed, resized, re-leaded, stored and refitted into the new church. These older windows date back to the 1920's. And thanks to the dedication of Henry Able we can enjoy the beauty and art of these windows today. But are they really stained glass? More on that later...

Do you have pictures taken at or around St John's before 1975? Please let us know. If you can scan and post please do. If you will let us barrow your pictures we can scan for you. If you prefer not to post let us know we still would like to see your pictures. Even if you think that the picture is nothing special it may show us something in the background that you may not be aware of. We are also looking for pictures of events at St John's at any time but our main focus is on the parish before the 1971 church.

Photo: Milpitas Post The rectory when originally completed

Photo Date 1971. This photo was taken as a series when the church opened in 1971

1901 - 1970 This was the second St. John the Baptist Catholic Church This photo was taken between 1901 and 1905 as Rev. John Villadomat is pictured on Main St. (El Camino Real)

1872 - 1901 This was the original St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Milpitas. There is some question if this was before or after a remodel that added more space.