As the city of Parma rode the wave of residents flocking to the suburbs where street after street of homes were going up, the Catholic Parishes felt the pressure of this influx. On July 4, 1959, Archbishop Edward R Hoban canonically established St. Anthony of Padua Parish as part of the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart.

The Holy Family Cancer Home and another residence were on the property allocated to the parish. During the summer of 1959 a new hospital for the cancer patients was completed and the Dominican Sisters, who staffed the hospital, and the patients under their care moved across State Road into the new hospital facility.

Fr. Jeremy Fisher, O.F.M. was appointed founding pastor and arrived in Cleveland from St. Peter's in Chicago on June 27. Before the end of the month he was meeting with architects to plan the new parish buildings.

By mid-July, Fr. Jeremy moved into the Old Riester home on State Road which had just been vacated by the Dominican Sisters on that same day. The first Mass in St. Anthony parish was offered in the chapel of this rectory.

Monsignor Frederic Mohan, Director of Diocesan Charities offered the facilities of Parmadale as a temporary church and meeting place to the parishioners of the new parish. The first SundayMasses were offered in Parmadale chapel on July 12.

With little fanfare the following organizations were rapidly established: ushers, male choir, Holy Name Society and Ladies Guild.
 

To round out the first year of St. Anthony of Padua, Fr. William Barnickel, O.F.M. joined the parish as first assistant. A Boy Scout troop was organized and a Knights of Columbus Council was in the planning stages. The men of the parish stepped forward to remodel the old cancer hospital and this building became known as St. Anthony Hall. A parish census revealed the parish had 1,129 families. Plans were drawn up for a parish school and church.

The new year of 1960 saw the launching of a building fund campaign. On a March Sunday morning, with some snow still in evidence, ground was broken for the gym/temporary church. During the first two years the children continued to attend St. Francis de Sales school but the C.C.D. classes were conducted at Parmadale.
 

St. Anthony Federal Credit Union was formed to serve the parishioners.

It was decided that the first fund raiser for the parish would be a spaghetti dinner to be coordinated with the first carnival. Equipment was borrowed and gallons and gallons of spaghetti sauce were prepared in tubs in the basement of the Thesmacher home, which was later to become St. Anthony Hall. The dinners, complete with salad and bread, were passed through the basement windows of the home to the waiting diners. Our parishioners certainly had no lack of ingenuity.

By January 1961 the building of the gym/temporary church was sufficiently advanced so that the first Mass could be offered in the church on Sunday, January 29. A "few items" were still incomplete - a platform for the altar, confessionals, rebuilt pews and kneelers.

The Ladies Guild held their meetings once a month at St. Anthony's Hall. Because the driveway was in rather "rustic" condition, several times during inclement weather members found their cars mired. Fr. Jeremy came to their rescue, pushing cars out of the mud. However, he soon tired of this and the Guild meetings were transferred to the Third Federal Bank on Ridge Road.

Farm nights, a two day fund raiser held in November, was family fun. A surprise lady wearing a costume with huge pockets filled with goodies delighted the little ones. There were games of chance, live ducks to ring, food and refreshments.

May 13, 1961 saw the first group of First Communicants in our own church.

The ever increasing enrollment of the grade school made it necessary to convert the former cancer home into a convent. Six Sisters of Saint Joseph joined the parish to staff the school. They were not the only new residents of this facility - a family of skunks found the space under the porch to their liking. Their presence was soon evident. A newspaper story brought many suggestions on how to convince them to move on.
 

August 1961 saw completion of the school building in time for the fall term with fifteen classrooms housing the 826 children enrolled.

The parish continued to progress. Plans were drawn up for a new convent to house the staff of nine sisters.

On July 24, 1966 St. Anthony Rectory was struck by lightning at 8:30 pm and a small fire resulted, damaging the second floor with smoke. The fire was quickly extinguished. Insurance covered repairs and repainting that were necessary.

Fr. Jeremy was transferred by the Franciscans in 1966. It was hard for the parish to bid farewell to our founding pastor who had seen the parish literally rise from an empty field. Fr. William Barnickle O.F.M. then served until 1968, at which time Fr. Donulus Wunderlich, O.F.M. succeeded him.

The Sisters of St. Joseph moved into the completed convent in August 1967. There were 22 rooms for resident sisters and guests. The first floor served as study rooms, reception rooms, a large recreation room, dining room and kitchen. A full basement contained a laundry, storage and a recreation/meeting room.

At this time, St. Anthony's Special C.C.D. classes were formed. A staff of dedicated volunteers under Mary Jane McGreevy, principal of this ministry, met weekly to teach religion to the handicapped. Fr. John Wenker, O.F.M. was the first moderator of this program that lasted for nineteen years.
 

During the succeeding years, the number of Sisters of St. Joseph gradually diminished to only three. It became evident that the most effective use of facilities would be to exchange the homes of the sisters and priests to establish a rectory/administration building. It continues to this day to serve this purpose.

At the end of the 1976 school year the sisters of St. Joseph retired from St. Anthony parish. In August three Sisters of the Resurrection arrived from the Chicago motherhouse to staff St. Anthony's school.

A parish survey taken in 1976 determined the needs and wants of the parishioners. Number one priority proved to be the construction of a new church building.

In June 1982, after 14 years as pastor of the parish and the implementer of the church building fund, Fr. Donulus, O.T.M. was transferred and Fr. Donard Paulus, O.F.M. was the appointed pastor.

During the summer of 1983, Fr. Donard spearheaded a successful building fund campaign. With the reserve built up by Fr. Donulus, the construction of the new church became a reality.

On August 5, 1984 ground was broken for the new church on the site of the former Reister home. A month later the parish celebrated its 25th anniversary with mass, parish reception and dinner-dance.

October 5, 1985 marked the culmination of the parish's goal. The first mass was celebrated in the new church. Twenty-six years of effort had seen the growth of the parish from several old buildings on a large, mostly undeveloped lot, to the raising of a new beautiful church to glorify God. In early May of 1986, Bishop Anthony M. Pilla dedicated the new church.

During the next several years following the completion of the church, emphasis was placed on the parish school. A "fair share" tuition program was instituted and a new lunch program began. The opening of the 1988 school year inaugurated an enlarged, rewired, and modernized state-of-the-art computer center and an after school care program was initiated.

In December Fr. Mike Ewert, O.F.M., was reassigned in the Franciscan community and Fr. Tom Aldworth, G.E.M., former associate, returned to assume the leadership of St. Anthony. That same year, the parish held an open forum to discuss parish interest and goals. In addition, after 30 years of sacrifice by the parishioners, the parish debt was paid.

Our pastor, Fr. Tom, O.F.M. became a published author. His books, titled "Shaping a Healthy Religion" and "Fashioning a Healthier Religion", were written from experiences at St. Anthony's parish 1978-81.

The Franciscans found it necessary to leave the parish and turned over its administration to priests from the Cleveland Diocese in June 1993. On Sunday, May 30, the parish celebrated a special liturgy to bid farewell to our friars from St. Anthony of Padua. A reception followed to share memories and bid God speed to our priests from the Franciscan Order that had served our parish so selflessly and with so much devotion over the years.
 

On Sunday, July 11 a liturgy and parish social welcomed our present pastor, Fr. Dale Staysniak and Fr. John Chelebo, associate pastor, as they assumed the pastoral care to the 3,400 families of the "parish on the hill."

In February 1994 we received the sad news that our first founding pastor, Fr. Jeremy Fischer, O.F.M. had passed away.

In August 1995, through the generosity of the Senior Citizen Group, the parish received the donation of the inspiring and harmonious electronic carillon bells. They arrived in time for the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the "new" church.