The Church and community continued to bloom. In 1891, under the pastorate of Father Leonard Mazziotta, the church was redecorated, but expansion was imperative. The parish population had grown to nearly five thousand people. A larger church was a must. Building the church on the parish’s three lots on Sixth Street had not at first entered into Father Mazziotta’s plans for two reasons. First, construction on the present property could not be large enough to accommodate the congregation Holy Rosary was sure to have in the next years. The second was esthetical. The church property was near the center of the block. Inevitable construction on either side of the property would interfere with the flow of sunlight into the building and incarcerate the exterior beauty of the edifice.

 

Father Mazziotta wanted to secure a more favorable location comprising four lots on the corner of Sixth and Brunswick Streets. On it, he intended to erect a church with a seating capacity of at least eight hundred people. He contemplated enlarging the old church and converting it into a rectory and hall. The estimated total cost was approximately twenty-five thousand dollars. To finance the project he proposed to rent the hall for social affairs, hold a fair once a year, and organize a church society for the express purpose of acquiring funds. In addition, he would depend on regular parishioner donations.

 

Two months later, however, Mazziotta decided on a course that was more practical for the Parish. Contracts were signed with Neil Campbell and Keary Brothers Construction Company. The old church was elevated and brought forward to the Sixth Street line. An extension forty-four feet wide and forty-five feet deep was added to the rear making the total length of the church ninety-five feet. It had a main and two side altars with a seating capacity of about six hundred people. A reed organ pumped by a foot pedal was installed in the choir loft.

For the next seven years, Holy Rosary experienced a quiet tenor of spiritual progress and numerical growth. Devotions and traditions brought from the many provinces of Italy were incorporated into the daily and Sunday Mass schedules.