Sacred Heart Parish traces its roots to when Rev. John B. Gallo came to Newburgh to minister to the spiritual needs of the Italian-speaking people who had been attending Mass at St. Patrick's Church. The parish became separate from St. Patrick's on September 8, 1912. Land was purchased on the southeast corner of Robinson Avenue and Ann Street. A temporary chapel situated in a vacant store at 286 Washington Street was used until the church was completed. The first Mass was celebrated in the new church on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1913. Rev. Cyrus Falco was the pastor who guided the parish through the trying years of the Great Depression. In 1933 he invited the Sisters of St. Dominic to take charge of our parish Sunday School. Rev. John B. Caldarola was pastor during World War II.