Dorchester Illustration no. 2286 St. Williams Church
St. William’s became its own Parish in 1909, when it was set off from St. Peter’s; it consisted of territory south of St. Margaret’s nearly to Glover’s Corner, and included the Savin Hill district. The Reverend James J. Baxter was the first pastor and was succeeded by James McCarthy. Baxter bought the Worthington estate at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Belfort Street, and adapted the old mansion as a rectory. Edward Sheehan, a Dorchester resident, designed the first church building at 1048 Dorchester Avenue in the Spanish Mission.
The building was burned in September 1980 and was replaced with a church of modern design. On August 31, 2004, St. William’s joined St.Margaret’s to come the Blessed Mother Teresa parish, occupying the St. Margaret’s building at 800 Columbia Road. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was canonized on Sunday, September 4, 2016, and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta parish in Dorchester changed its name to St. Teresa of Calcutta Church.
The archive of these historical posts can be viewed on the blog at www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org