The history of Saint Joseph Church dates back to the mid-1800's. Our earliest records show that the Masses were celebrated in Middletown Point, which is now known as Matawan. The year was 1850. Priests would travel from Perth Amboy and South Amboy to tend to the needs of the area Catholics.
When the number of Catholics began to grow, so did the need to establish a Church in the area with the heaviest Catholic population. Keyport was chosen as the appropriate site. But, as the number of area Catholics grew, so did the anti-Catholic sentiment that encompassed the area.
One needs to recall that in 1854, when St. Joseph Church was first built, Franklin Pierce was President of the United States and Gregory XVI was Pope. Our Church was founded years before the Civil War would grip our nation.
History shows that the first load of bricks used to build our founding Church was thrown into the Raritan Bay by those who detested the thought of the Catholics establishing themselves in Keyport. Throughout the building of the Church, the bricks laid during the day were torn down at night. The founding members of the parish then took it upon themselves to dutifully protect the newly-laid foundation at night, after a hard day's work.
Our first Church, a thirty-by-forty-foot structure was completed and dedicated in 1854. The first resident pastor would not arrive until twenty-two years later, when Reverend Patrick McGovern was named. Since the Diocese of Trenton did not exist at the time of the dedication, St. Joseph Church was under the auspices of the (then) Diocese of New York.
During the founding years of St. Joseph Parish, Keyport was a well-known and well-used port. Throughout Keyport, goods traveled by either ship or train. Fishing boats were a common sight, as were horse-drawn carriages, bringing goods and produce to be shipped throughout New Jersey and New York. Vacationers from New York usually stopped in Keyport for a brief time, as they ventured to the various shore points to relax with their servants. Keyport was the most appropriate place for Catholicism to be established.
By the 1870's the number of area Catholics had outgrown their original Church. A new Gothic Church was built and dedicated in 1879. The old Church, our first sacred space, was converted into a Catholic School, one of the first in the area. St. Joseph School was staffed by the Sisters of St. Francis who ministered to our people until 1890, when the Sisters of Mercy arrived. The Sisters of Mercy have been ministering in our Church for well over 100 years!
The first rectory was built in 1877. A convent was established in 1928. In the 1950's, with the number of Catholics greatly increasing, Saint Joseph's Parish gave birth to new area Churches. From our rosters came Saint Benedict Parish in Holmdel, Saint Clement Parish in Matawan and Holy Family Parish in Union Beach. From the original founding in 1854, within less than a century, our Church was divided into three other Churches!
In 1972 plans were made to build a new Church, since the Gothic structure that housed Catholic worship in Keyport for ninety-five (95) years had been declared unsafe. In 1976 the new Church edifice was officially dedicated.
From our contentious, but determined, beginnings in 1854 until the present day, we have seen our Church community grow and prosper under the guidance of many priests and sisters. From our earliest forebearers of faith, who diligently guarded bricks to build our first Church, to the diverse community that worships within our Church now, we all share one, common denominator . . . a desire to draw closer to our God and to each other. Saint Joseph Church has a proud history of empowering its members to embrace the faith-filled tradition of the Catholic Church.
