Bernard Donnelly (29 June 1810 – 15 December 1880) was an Irish Catholic priest who ministered to the Catholic community in Kansas City, Missouri in the nineteenth century; he was also the founder of Kansas City's Irish community. The Irish immigrants he brought with him to Kansas City helped carve out many of the city's River Market and Downtown streets from the bluffs of the Missouri River. Fr. Donnelly's brickworks was responsible for the construction of several historic Downtown Kansas City Catholic churches including the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, and Old St. Patrick's.
Biography
Bernard Donnelly was born in Kilnacreeva, County Cavan, Ireland in 1810.[1][2] He was educated in Cavan and Dublin as an engineer and earned his first job helping to build the docks in Liverpool in the 1820s and 1830s. While in Liverpool, Donnelly met Fr. Theobald Matthew (1790-1856) a noted temperance reformer who mentored Donnelly as a public organizer and speaker.[3]
When the City of Kansas City, Missouri was incorporated in 1853 Fr. Donnelly was one of the early proponents of local development. He organized a group of 300 Irish immigrants, mostly from the counties of Connacht to come to Kansas City and begin the process of carving through the bluffs of the Missouri River that were a barrier between the town's original plot and the river landings in the West and East Bottoms.[10] Among the early ecclesiastical buildings that Fr. Donnelly constructed was a new brick Church of the Immaculate Conception built on the site of the old Church of St. John Francis Regis. To serve these Irish immigrants Fr. Donnelly was given permission to establish a new parish in Kansas City called St. Patrick's in 1869 next to which Fr. Donnelly established a brickworks that became central to the construction of many of the original buildings of the new city.[11] In 1872 due to structural problems the original St. Patrick's Church had to be demolished and a new church located at the intersection of 8th Street and Cherry Street was dedicated on Christmas Day 1875.[12]
Fr. Donnelly died on 15 December 1880, in his parish rectory.[13] He was buried in Mount St. Mary's Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.[14]