200 Pigeons Homeless

It can be quite fun to flip through old issues of the Baltimore Sun in search of articles that relate to Corpus Christi Church.  Earlier this week I stumbled on the following headline from November 4, 1904:

200 Pigeons Homeless.  Wire screens in Corpus Christi Belfry shut out flock.  Residents Show Sympathy.  Descendants of Carrier Birds Now Hoover Piteously About Steeple in Which They Lived Nine Years. 

Three weeks earlier the church had taken steps to eliminate a large colony of pigeons from the steeple, first by placing whiskey soaked in corn on the roof to drug the birds which would make them easier to capure and then by sending three boys up into the belfry.  What happened was close to a massacre:

Their object was to secure the pigeons and their zeal was not lessened by any regard for the feelings of the pigeons. Nests were destroyed, eggs broken and the young either taken or left maimed. To the frightened pigeons, the boys seems ill-omened Ogres.  There was a rush to escape. The three boys attempted to beat them back. Wings were injured and pinions broken as they beat against each other in their attempts to escape or were struck by the boys. 

Soon after wire screens were installed to cover all the openings and prevent the birds from returning, much to the dismay of some of the neighbors:

Mr. J.M. Watts, of 1403 Mount Royal avenue, who lives opposite the church, is one of the oldest residents of the neighborhood, and having watched their flight in the morning and their return in the evening, feels an indignity has been done to the pigeons. He and others have observed the pigeons beating again[st] the wire in their futile attempt to gain entrance.

 It does not appear however that the church managed to scare away the birds forever: 

At present the belfry is closed to the pigeons, but they seem disinclined to forsake the old familiar walls.  The evening angelus finds scores of pigeons perched in the ledge of the large rose window over the Mount Royal avenue entrance.  Others find warmth in cuddling together along the many ledges of the walls.  Dozens of other birds fly here and there from cornice to coping and from coping to pinnacle, seeking some nook sufficiently sheltered for winter habitation and large enough for nest and young birds.

 

Corpus Christi-Jenkins Memorial Church

 

Corpus Christ-Jenkins Memorial Church -- from In Memoriam Ellen Jenkins 1841-1908.

Corpus Christi-Jenkins Memorial Church is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the first church in the United States to be named Corpus Christi, the first church in Baltimore to be built entirely of granite, and it is one of the few "memorial" Catholic churches in the country devoted to an individual or family. Corpus Christi Church was built a memorial to the Jenkins family, an old Baltimore family, prominent in business, philanthropy, church affairs and the arts. 

Thomas C. Jenkins -- from In Memoriam Ellen Jenkins 1841-1908.

Thomas Courtney Jenkins was a banker and a railroad magnate.  He was born in 1802, the eldest son of William Jenkins and his wife Ellen Willcox.   Upon completing his studies at St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, he joined his father in the leather business in Baltimore.  In 1822 he was given an interest in the firm, but he left 6 years later to establish the "Poland and Jenkins" firm with Mr. Poland Adams.

Thomas C. Jenkins soon became a very successful business man.  In 1832 he became the director of the Mechanic’s Bank, a position he held for forty-nine years.  For many years he was also the director of the Savings Bank of Baltimore.  He was one of the original organizers of the Parkersburg and Central Ohio Railroad, the Northern Central Railway, and the Atlantic Coast Line.  He also organized the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, and became its first President.

Louisa Carrell Jenkins -- from In Memoriam Ellen Jenkins 1841-1908.

In 1829 he married Louisa Carrell from Philadelphia who had been a boarding student at Mother Seton’s School in Emmittsburg.  Of Irish descent, Louisa Carrell was the sister of George Aloysius Carrell who later became the first bishop of Covington, Kentucky.  The couple resided for many years at 608 North Calvert Street in what was then called Waterloo Row.  In 1851 they moved to 721 St. Paul Street.

Thomas and Louisa Jenkins were prominent members of the Catholic Church in Baltimore.  They were were very active in the church and its various causes.  Thomas Jenkins was one of the first pewholders and oldest member of the Board of Trustees of the Baltimore Cathedral (The Basilica).  He was an incorporator of St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum and St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys.   His house frequently hosted many of the prelates of the church, especially during their attendance at the councils held in Baltimore.  He was an intimate friend of James Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore and later Cardinal.

Thomas Jenkins retired from business in 1865.  He passed away on Christmas Eve in 1881.  His wife, Louisa Carrell, died a year later, but before she did, she asked her children to build a chapel in memory of their father.  The children fulfilled their mother’s wish by building one of the most beautiful churches in the archdiocese and dedicating it to the memory of both their parents.[1]

---

[1] Joseph Willcox, Ivy Mils, 1729-1866: Willcox and allied families (Baltimore: Lucas Brothers, 1911), p. 87-89.