The Shrine Church of the Most Precious Blood at 113 Baxter Street between Canal and Hester streets has a historic connection to Cracotans. The building exterior was completed in 1904. Beginning in the latter part of the 19th Century, when Italian immigrants settled in lower Manhattan in the early 1900s, they formed a neighborhood eventually known as Little Italy. Italian immigrants were shunned by the established churches and forced to worship in makeshift areas in basements.
Recognizing the situation, in 1888 the Vatican established a National Parish to serve the rapidly growing population. A group of Scalabrini Fathers of the St. Charles Borromeo Society were designated to form the Most Precious Blood Italian National Parish. Three years later, the Scalabrini Fathers had purchased land at 113 Baxter Street and commenced construction of the church.
