Lordship

St. Joseph’s of Stratford
National Catholic Church
1300 Stratford Road
Stratford, CT  06615
(203) 377-9901

Our Parish is located in the Lordship section of Stratford:

Stratford Road begins at the south end of Main Street in the section of the Town of Stratford called Lordship.  Lordship is the southernmost part of town along the shoreline of Long Island Sound.  Do not confuse Stratford Road with Stratford Avenue.  (Stratford Avenue crosses Main Street nearer to the center of town.)  State Route No. 113 includes the part of Stratford Road that fronts our church.

Our parish property includes a church/classrooms/hall complex, a 60-car parking lot and a five-acre cemetery.  Our property borders a light industrial zone on one side and Sikorsky Memorial Airport on two sides.  On Stratford Road across from the parish are condominiums and duplex houses; and beyond them is Short Beach Park, which is along the Housatonic River.

Sikorsky Memorial Airport is named after Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, who invented the first practical helicopter.  He flew it successfully in September 1939 and based the first production of helicopters upon that model.  Most of his test flights took place in Lordship.  Since that time Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation has been building helicopters.  It is the largest company in Stratford with the most employees.  The main plant is in the north end of town.

Many, if not most, of Igor Sikorsky's key engineers and most trusted employees are buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.  Also buried there is the Russian Orthodox bishop who had served St. Nicholas Church, as well as his daughter who was the organist, and one of his priests.  Igor Sikorsky, who had immigrated from Russia, helped establish St. Nicholas Church in Stratford.

Points of interest in Lordship include:

• The Great Meadow Marsh of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge
• Long Beach on Long Island Sound (swimming, fishing, hiking)
• The Seawall with nearby restaurants, motel and a roller-skating rink
• The lighthouse at Stratford Point at the mouth of the Housatonic River
• Short Beach Park, which includes a par-3 golf course, miniature golf, playground, skateboard park, swimming beach, and fields and courts for most sports;  President George H. Bush had designated the park as one of his Points of Light
• And Sikorsky Memorial Airport, which is owned and operated by the City of Bridgeport; mounted at the airport entrance is the State Plane, the Corsair--a fighter plane with an inverted gull wing that was famous for its success in combat during World War II and was manufactured in Stratford