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You are here: Home / People of Mount Prospect / Rev. Thomas J. O’Brien

June 13, 2012 By HS Board

Rev. Thomas J. O’Brien

Does MPHS have photographs: Assorted Images

Address in Mount Prospect:

Birth Date: October 25, 1901

Death Date: May 1963

Marriage: No

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments

Rev. Thomas O’Brien was the founding priest for Saint Raymond’s Church. He was ordained in 1932 at Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary. He spent seven years as an assistant at Saint Thomas the Apostle parish in Chicago and then ten years as the Chaplain at Saint Theresa Hospital in Waukegan. In 1949 he was assigned to Saint Raymond’s and sent to organize the congregation and build the church facilities. This was the first Catholic Church in Mount Prospect, and once it had a priest, it grew very rapidly. It was first started in the late 1940s when the Catholic Women’s Club began working to bring a Catholic parish to the community. After years of work, in 1949 Father O’Brien arrived and gave the first mass in the basement of the Central School. The parish grew quickly and opened the doors to its eight room school in 1954. The school was so popular by the end of the decade that they had to have two schedules for the students, one that came in the morning and one that came in the afternoon. The school has been significantly enlarged and continues to be popular in the community.

 

Filed Under: People of Mount Prospect

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Mount Prospect Historical Society
101 South Maple Street
Mount Prospect, IL 60056
847.392.9006
info@mtphistory.org

The Mount Prospect Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is committed to preserving the history of Mount Prospect, IL, through artifacts, photographs and both oral and written memories of current and former residents and businesspeople.  On its campus in the heart of the Village, the Society maintains the 1906 Dietrich Friedrichs house museum, the ADA-accessible Dolores Haugh Education Center and the 1896 one-room Central School, which was moved to the museum campus in 2008, renovated and opened to the public in 2017, the 100-year anniversary of the Village.

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