Sunday, January 20, 2013

Moving Limestone from Sandusky to Cleveland

From the website of St. Patrick's on Bridge Ave. in Cleveland:

"In the fall of 1870, ground was broken and the corner stone was set in place on August 21, 1871. A friend of the parish who owned a quarry in Sandusky offered the stone to the community if they could cut it and haul it to Cleveland themselves. Parishioners were divided into teams. One group would leave after Mass on Sunday, staying overnight at an inn in Lorain. They would continue to Sandusky, quarrying stone till the weekend. Saturday morning they would return to the parish and unload the wagon. Meanwhile, another group would cut and place the stone. The trips to Sandusky were repeated weekly for a two year period. The church was occupied on May 1, 1873. The stone tower was completed in 1903."

The church looks more than a little like Ss. Peter & Paul in Sandusky -- perhaps the Sandusky church, built in the 1860s, was an influence on the design.

2 comments:

Dorene from Ohio said...

I really enjoyed reading this story!

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