The history of the Church of St. Mary, Portland, is the fountainhead of Roman Catholic history in Greater Middletown.  Portland was the first site of the church’s presence in this part of Connecticut, for the earliest Catholic settlers of what was then part of the Town of Middletown resided on the Portland side of the Connecticut River.  The town was incorporated as Portland in 1841.

The first Mass offered in the Middlesex Valley was celebrated in Portland in 1830 under the branches of a large tree in an open field on Main Street near Strong’s Lane.  For ten years services were held in various places in town.  About 1840 a building situated at “the Sand Bank” – later called Bank Street – near the river at the terminal of the former bridge in Portland was purchased and Catholics of Portland and Middletown worshiped there until about 1844.  Portland brownstone was donated for the building of St. John’s Church in Middletown, which opened in 1845.  At that time Portland became a mission of the Middletown church and, from then until 1872, the Catholics of Portland, Glastonbury, and East Hampton crossed the bridge to attend services in Middletown.  One of the poignant facts of history is that Portland faithful could not cross the bridge because of bad weather, they would stand on the Portland river bank and recite the Rosary, looking across the waters at Saint John’s Church while Mass was being celebrated.

By 1864 the Catholics of Portland had become a community of the faithful unto themselves.  There were 1,800 Catholics in Portland when the first resident pastor was appointed on July 26, 1872.  His first duty was to build a church.  The cornerstone of Saint Mary was laid on April 15, 1877.  The basement chapel of St. Mary was dedicated in June 1877.   In 1890 a new bell considered one of the finest in the state was installed in the church.  The bell was cast by Neely & Co. of Troy, New York and was the largest bell in the state outside the city of Hartford.  The blessing of the bell ceremony included the sacrament of Confirmation held for a class of 250 adults and children.

In 1887 an abutting property was purchased and the house was transformed into a convent and occupied by six Sisters of Mercy.  In 1889 a two-story frame structure was built to serve as a new school for approximately 200 students.  In 1959 the present day school and social hall was constructed, including eight classrooms and a kindergarten.  As part of the new school construction a new convent was prepared for the Sisters of Mercy in a former private residence facing Marlborough Street.  In 1970 the school was closed. 

On December 9, 1972 the church was closed due to structural weaknesses.  Weekend masses were held in the Portland High School auditorium until two classrooms in the school could be combined and retrofitted into a temporary facility for church functions.  The renovated classrooms provided seating for 330 persons and sacristy space.  In 1977 the parish approved renovating the old church.  The rededication of the newly-renovated St. Mary Church was held on Pentecost Sunday, May 14, 1978.

On June 25, 1991 after a second lengthy renovation project, the unthinkable happened.  Portland emergency dispatch received a report of smoke in and around the 112-year old church.  Soon, hundreds of spectators watch in disbelief as firefighters fought a ferocious blaze that quickly engulfed the structure.  At 6:07 PM the steeple collapsed, taking with it the golden cross and any hope of salvaging the structure.  A five-week investigation into the cause of the blaze determined it was the result of metal fatigue in a section of electrical cable near the entrance to the church.  Parishioners returned to the temporary chapel in the parish school.

Ground breaking for a new church was held on October 3, 1993.  After four years of construction the church’s new cross was appropriately positioned on June 25, 1995, the fourth anniversary of the fire.  The ceremony of Solemn Dedication of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Community took place on November 19, 1995. 

Picture of St Mary Church from the Souvenir Edition of the The Middletown Tribune, dated 1896