Holy Name of The Blessed Virgin Mary Church (Donora)      

This is the only image from Donora in my Mon Valley gallery.   Not that there was nothing interesting to see in Donora — there was, and I will find a way to share those images in the future.  But my tour of Donora’s neighborhoods and industrial areas gave me the impression that Donora weathered the demise of the valley’s steel economy better than its neighboring towns.  Either that or Donora has been more aggressive in razing their ruins.

Churches dominate the historic architecture of many Western Pennsylvania towns.  The Holy Name of The Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Donora was built in 1904 and served a mostly Polish congregation.  The altar-side of the building faces Carroll Avenue and the Monongahela River.  In 1992, the parish was consolidated and this church was closed and sold to private owners.  The day I drove past, it looked like the building had been in decline but some renovation was underway.