Historic Philadelphia Church Destroyed In Fire, Ruled Arson, $20K Reward Offered

The fire that destroyed the historic St. Leo's Catholic Church in Philadelphia's Tacony neighborhood was intentionally set, according to fire officials.

St. Leo's church in Philadelphia's Tacony neighborhood on Sunday afternoon.

Photo Credit: 6abc Philadelphia

Jillian Pikora

05/13/2021 2:18 p.m.

The fire broke out at the St. Leo The Great Roman Catholic Church on Keystone Street and Unruh Avenue at approximately 5:15 p.m. and burned through most of the building in two hours.

A wrecking ball knocked down the remains of the building on Monday after the Keystone Street facing wall that remained, “posed an imminent danger to the neighborhood and prevented investigators from getting inside to try and determine the fire's cause,” the fire marshal said.

The deed to the land was issued in 1885 and the church also served as a local school graduating hundreds of students, according the Historical Society of Tacony.

A $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible was announced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Citizens Crime Commission on Thursday.

Anyone with information on the person or persons responsible for the fire should contact ATF at 1-888-ATF-TIPS.

Click here to follow Daily Voice Allentown and receive free news updates.