Fire-damaged St. Joseph’s Church in Lyndonville demolished

Photo courtesy of Paul Hand

LYNDONVILLE – The St. Joseph’s Catholic Church has been knocked down this week following a fire on Feb. 28, 2023 that caused extensive damage to the site at 36 Lake Ave.

The Diocese of Buffalo announced on July 10 that the church would not be repaired and would be demolished. The wrecking crew has been on site this week.

Paul Hand, a parishioner at St. Joseph’s since 2010, stopped by on Wednesday and saw the main structure in a heap in the basement.

“It is an emotional time for a lot of people,” Hand said. “It was our spiritual home.”

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church was built in 1917 as a mission church under St. Mary’s in Medina.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Here is how the site looked on Feb. 28, 2023 when multiple fire departments responded to the scene.

Firefighters were dispatched to the church at 3:41 a.m. on Feb. 28 when a passerby saw flames shooting out from the back of the building. The fire started in a classroom structure attached to the church. There was smoke and water damage throughout much of the building.

The pews were covered in soot and soggy insulation from the fire. The walls peeled and the former white interior turned gray and black after the fire.

Photos by Paul Hand

Hand started going to St. Joseph’s in 2010 after the Sacred Heart Catholic Church was closed in Medina. Hand now attends St. Mary’s in Medina. He said other parishioners from St. Joseph’s are now going to Catholic churches in Barker, Medina and Albion.

Hand said seeing the site in a demolished state was difficult for him. He was especially struck by seeing the stairs no longer leading to the main building.

“Those were the stairs we walked into every Sunday,” he said. “Now there’s a stairway to nothing.”

He appreciates the Diocese did move to take the building down, rather than have it languish unoccupied for years.

“It would have been a shame to see it sit there deteriorating,” he said. “Now we can move forward.”