Poughkeepsie Journal from Poughkeepsie, New York • Page 11A

b.IbmbvjYbbbbBbibx'Sbis as bHbV Sundoy, October 13, 1985 Poughkeepsie Journof HA JournalKan Bltjlgottl Father Mario Bastone, pastor, outside Mount Carmel Church. At its peak, Bastone said, the parish had 1,300 families and a school full of 750 children'who came from all over the county. atflTBYBr BBBBHakX BBBBraY 1 5HL ssaaaaBarai BB Jffw5nB? bBBbiBHuI HvW aaaaV 1 1V.iBBBB"'1'jaS PmJ? 4l ffO, MIIk B1BBBBBBBBBL' BBBa' SBf NffK vv rc ss Fllomena and Sam Laguua following their wedding Feb. 27, 1124, at Mount Carmel Church. The Laguzzas still live in the neighborhood on Verazzano Boulevard.

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Residents of the area say a new spirit Is developing In the neighborhood1. Felice anniversario I Little Italy gets ready for a big party By L.W. Striegel Journal ataff When a special dinner was suggested to mark the 79th anniversary of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church and the 50th anniversary of its school, the Rev Mario Bastone didn't think big "1 planned fdrthe Elks Club. I thought 300 people would be sufficient," said Bastone. pastor of the Poughkeepsie church since 1977.

But parishioners disagreed. "I thought, let's go for broke. Let's get the Civic Center," said Connie Cargam, a parishioner. Bastone said we were out of our minds." They weren't The Mid Hudson Civic Center will be the site of a dinner dance Friday night for 850 people. The event, with tickets costing J25 each, was sold out in July A play about the school's history will be presented at 6.30 p.m.

Saturday at the school, and Bishop Anthony Mesti)e, a former Mount Carmel pastor, will lead a 2 p.m. Mass Sunday. The occasion is a homecoming for old neighbors from the tightly packed houses and apartment buildings of Poughkecpsie's "Little Italy," It is a time to reminisce for those who grew up among the shops of Mill Street. North Clover Avenue. Delafield Street and Cataract Place, later renamed Mount Carmel Square.

Italian immigrants first settled there in ISIS A tailor, a wincmaker and a fisherman took rooms at 109 Mill St a three story building that in 1933 is the home of Mane Balassone's diner. The earliest Immigrants worked on railroads or set up shops. Few could read. According to legend, a note home to Italy would carry a white thread if there was work in Poughkeepsie, black if not. America's first saint.

Mother Frances Xavier Cabnni, bought groceries on North Clover Street. Shoeshine boys carried her packages to the ferry for the trip back to her orphanage in West Park The neighborhood was mostly Irish, with some Polish natives But the Italian influx grew, so the pastor of St Peter's on Mill Street assigned a priest to say weekly Mass for the Italian community In 1910, grocer Nicola Manna and tailor Pasquale Tesone borrowed from the Fallkill bank to build a church, a yellow brick structure, just a few blocks from St. Peter's. In the next 25 years, many of the Irish left City directories show that Mill Street addresses of the Doyles, Qumns and Cassidys in 1910 were occupied in 1935 by the Alfanos, Casparros and DiMartioi Antoinette and Frank Peluse crowded their 13 children into the top two floors of a three story house at 6 Mount Carmel Square. Peluse.

a barber, taught his nine sons the trade "so they would have something to fall back on," said Regina Peluse, 65. who shares the bouse with her brother, Frank, 71 At night, neighbors talked on the street. "My brother and all his friends used to gather in that beige house across the street to hear Eleanor Leo play the ukulele," she said, motioning to a window The area bustled with tailors, cigar confectioners and florists. Midwife Nellie 'Galuppo would come running from her place on North Clover Street Across from Gcrmano Angelo's grocery on Cataract Place was Matthew Bricn's saloon The Rev. Joseph Perniconc became pastor of Mount Carmel in 1932.

Though only 29, he set out to build a school. On Oct. 13. 1933. a cornerstone was laid.

Cardinal Patrick Hayes came to dedicate the school in 1936 "It is unusual to find such fine activity in a priest So young," he said of Pernicone, who later became a bishop. The school, which has 2,500 alumni, needed help in the beginning. The first president of the mothers club wis Fllomena Laguzza, who lives on Verazzano Boulevard with her husband, Sam a retired butcher Merchants donated to cake and candy sales "We bought all the books." she said. "We helped to furnish the classrooms. We really worked hard." Mrs.

Laguzza. 80. recalled the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Each July 16 a Mass would be offered. The statue of the brown clad madonna would be carried through downtown on a platform held by eight men.

Children and. the societies of the Holy Name, St. Rita, St. Ann and Mount Carmel followed. There was a festival Including a greased pole, games, food and fireworks When World War II came, five of Regina TUi5e's brothers joined the scrvfec.

The draft number of Carlo Garrita, a member of the Poughkeepsie Italian Center, was the first chosen. The day after Christmas a flag in one hand, a suitcase In the other and marched down Main Street to the train station The 1950s and 1960s brpught change "The younger people, more mobile and probably better educated than their parents, needed housing and moved away," said Gabe Pontc, an anniversary organizer who lives in the Town of Poughkeepsie At its peak, Bastone said, the parish had 1,300 families and the school was filled with 750 children who came from all over the county. However, in 1966, the Archdiocese of New York ordered a breakup of the "national" church in favor of churches with territorial boundaries. St Peter's parish was moved to Hyde Mount Carmel moved to the St Peter church building a few blocks away "I think a lot of the Italians resented it," Mrs. Peluse said "But I've gotten used to it Today the parish has 800 families The school has about 150 students.

Since 1976, a has employed a Montessori method of teaching, which recognizes individual skills, and learning speeds It was the first school north of New York City to adopt 'the methods, according to principal Michael Morano The school also has a pre kindergarten program three days a week Bastone said profits from an anniversary advertising journal helped to fix the school roof A blunt man. he does not hesitate to tell a visitor it costs SI 35 000 a year to support the school, some of which comes through tuition of 160 to S90 a month per student For a time the neighborhood was m'dccline, Some buildings were vacant und streets were not as clean, residents said However, they sec a new spirit today One sign is a building at 110 Mill St Built in 1834, the building has been a carpet manufacturing plant, cigar factory, b'oomcr factory und warehouse, according to architect Steven Tlnkclman, a part owner Recently it was converted into 20 apartments with renls ranging from S4C0 to S775 a month. Tinkclman said the project cost him und co partners about SI million Including a 3500,000 a government loan He said 16 units hasc been I rented I Connie Cargain, also director of property Tjj redevelopment for the City of Poughkeepsie, said she wheeled her father, who at 83 is JJJ oisaDieu iromra siroKC, into inc ouiiaing thc elevator was installed "The whole neighborhood watched that redevelopment," she said. "It was asjf It was, their baby that was being born." She said that since 1971, 32.7 million in federal' funds have been spent in the Mount Carmel i4 area fur housing and street Improvements. 2j Some old Italian businesses remain.

Sardi's grocery on Mount Carmel Square was founded by Dominlco Pacio and Is run today by hit la daughter, Albina Sardi, 73. Dalleo's grocery, Jjj founded by Peter Dalleo, Is still run by his son, Marshall, and Marshall's wife. Marie; en NorUTjJ Clover Both carry tuna, olive oil and spaghetti sauce, among other Imported Italian foods. a On Mill Street, Lou Strippoli said he has IpenT I 310,000 to refurbish the Caffc Aurora, which li popular for pastry. Including fried dough cannolis.

a "There's a lot of jfew blood in here and that's what's bringing the neighborhood up mostly i young professionals," he said. Sanlino Milanese, who opened a restaurant a at 115 Main St, in 1971, recently made a 3125 000 addition and bought land for parking through a govirnment urban renewal program Two new restaurants have moved in nearby a Looking at the bright side, Milanese's son, Aldo, said he hopes patrons will "think of this area as a a place to cat and come often. There are no nuns left ut the parish and I Bastone, 66. is the only priest. He lamented that some former parishioners only return when they die "They want to have their funeral at Mount Carmel," he said.

a He said a "younger man is needed" to help, Jjl enliven the parish For his part, he has revived the parish festival, whicjvwat abandoned In the 1960s. The parish celehStes the feast of St Anthony of Padua rrocesslon Is held In early? June with a carnival that is smaller than those of the past JJ Cargain. a 1952 graduate of Mount Carmel' if school, lives with her husband, William, ton the floor above her parents. She said they had i planned to move after getting married, but decided to stay "That neighborhood has really stayed a neighborhood," she said tt fe BBBBBMfr BBBBBBka Jk. VA i mi fr suBlBBBBBBBBBBgfi I BBBBBBBBBB aBBBBBF fmLZBBBBBBBBBaV BBBBBBBBBBBBBBf BVaPXflVaBrP'BVaBaBBBVaaVaWaBVaB 'TTiBWf BVAVaVMV I 9TBBBai1BBBMOBBBafct 4 m' dHBBl tw9 3 I BlSfi A flCBBf '3 WlfiffaW Ml teJBjVBJB; Bf BffsBBBBBaaaBBBBBBBBaPBiHBaaaaaaM I'i 2 BmbBBJBJBJBJ BBBBZ vfl'? BfMHBfBHHnBfBBBNtSBr Lfafal mWWtr ''afaafBh stafaBaV Hfafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafafa i.

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