“That’s weird,” I remarked as we headed up Jennings Station Road to check up on the old factory on Xograph Avenue, “we should be seeing an old church I check up on occasionally.”
After our visit to Xograph Avenue, we came back to the site of the former Corpus Christi Church, which I first visited back in April of 2012. It has proven to be one of my most popular posts. I’ve looked at the church again in December of 2016, another time in May of 2019, and yet again in June of 2022.
Needless to say, we determined the reason we couldn’t see it from Jennings Station Road: the former church has been demolished, along with the old school building, and a new expansion of the retirement home nearby is being built in its place. So ends the history of Corpus Christi Parish.
I guess it’s at least a good thing that the land is still being put to use as opposed to it just being a vacant lot. Still, it’s a shame it came to this. My mom grew up just a couple of blocks from here. Her parents bought a brand new home in 1940 on Gaylord Dr. in Flordell Hills when she was just five. My Grandpa was one of the men that helped roll the WWI cannon from the train tracks down to the corner of Gaylord Dr. and Brandon Ave. And their house, while it appears to be a rental, is still standing and inhabited!
This news, and the prior story about Marillac demo, just makes me sad. The North County of my youth is slowly, inexorably going away. Thanks as always for documenting these events.