History :

St. Anthony Church was founded in 1909.

The Rev. Eugene Raschiotto of Torino, Italy, came to Spring Valley a few years after the turn of the century to care for his fellow Northern Italians in Spring Valley and the neighboring Dalzell. Father Raschiotti conducted services for them from 1904 to 1906 in a hall at the old Immaculate Conception school building.

Another Italian priest, the Rev. Nicholas Blanc from Aosta, was appointed first pastor of St. Anthony parish in 1909. On June 25, of that year he offered religious services in a small vacant frame building east of St. Paul Street. The structure was subsequently purchased and dedicated to St. Anthony. It soon was remodeled with a bell tower sanctuary, and two sanctuaries. The ceiling was raised six feet to make room for the choir gallery.

After the first World War the church was again enlarged, remodeled and provided with new pews and windows. In 1937 Father Blanc built a second sacristy and added a brick veneer to the exterior walls. The pastor added a new furnace in 1939. Later, an electric organ was purchased.

On March 19, 1951, the parish purchased four lots east of the church, including a two story house intended for a rectory.

Father Koloman Kassovic succeeded Father Blanc in 1953 and built the new rectory and hall, which was completed in January 1955. A furnace explosion caused extensive damages to the church interior in 1958, necessitating extensive repairs and redecoration.

Another fire causing extensive damage to the church occured in April of 1968. On September 1969, contracts for the construction of a new church, rectory, hall and catechetical center were signed and in November of that year Father Kassovic resigned from the parish.

Father B.E. Drendel assumed the duties of pastorate in January of 1970. On June 1, 1970, the Catholic Consolidated School closed.

The first mass was said in the new church at its current location on January 31, 1971, and the church was dedicated by Bishop John B. Franz on June 13, 1971. Father Sylvester Jesiolowki became the fourth pastor of the parish on August 22, 1979.