There were two St. John the Evangelist Churches in Clinton before the current one, at 80 Union Street, was built in 1886. Begun as a mission church to the growing community’s Irish immigrants in the 1840s, the the first church was dedicated on October 4, 1850. It was a wood frame church on South Main Street. As described by Andrew Elmer Ford in his History of the Origin of the Town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 (1896): The inclosure of pine trees which today makes the former location of the church conspicuous, was set out under the direction of Father Boyce. … Continue reading St. John the Evangelist Church, Clinton (1886)