Catholic Architecture and History of Toledo, Ohio: St. Mary

Showing posts with label St. Mary. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

St. Mary, Sandusky

A photo gallery of Christmas Eve mass, courtesy of the Sandusky Register. Click HERE.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Storm Damage - St. Mary Norwalk

In the recent storms that moved their way through Ohio, Norwalk was hit particularly hard, with many damaged buildings and homes. The First Baptist Church (Oasis of God) had one of it's turrets blown off (see picture from wkyc.com). It was reported that winds of up to 100 mph blew through the area.

St. Mary's in Norwalk was also damaged. Much of the masonry at the top of the tower was disturbed. Some even fell to the ground and onto the church roof, causing damage to the roof and plaster ceiling inside. The damage is severe enough that the streets surrounding the church are closed in case of further structural failure, and all masses and other events have been moved to the school gym. See the Norwalk Reflector article below:

http://www.norwalkreflector.com/article/3743856

Interestingly enough, this is not the first time the steeple has suffered wind damage. A wind storm in the 50's damaged the original ornamentation at the base of the steeple. See the below blog post for a picture.

http://catholictoledo.blogspot.com/2007/04/st-mary-norwalk_20.html

Plans for the future of the steeple and tower are to be determined. See below for pictures of the exterior damage. Note the masonry that is shifted, missing or pulling away from the structure. Extensive interior damage was also noted by engineers. I do not have any pictures of interior damage at this point in time.

I will post an update once further plans are outlined. Until then, updates of the situation can be followed on the parish's Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Mary-Mother-of-the-Redeemer-Catholic-Church/188089864270

(Photo: Mike Doughty)

(Photo: Janotta & Herner)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, this is what it looks like when a steeple starts to come down:

St. James Catholic Church, Chicago IL. (After a long delayed promise of posting, here is one picture. I will make a detailed post when demolition is completed.)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

St. Mary, Toledo

Above is a photo of the first St. Mary's church in Toledo, located on Cherry Street. The church was initially dedicated in 1857, and served as the main parish for German Catholics in the city. Jesuit priests were asked to administer the parish in 1869, eventually resulting in the establishment of St. John's College. In 1876, Cherry Street was lowered, and the church's foundation had to be rebuilt. A new St. Mary's church was built on Page St. in 1904; the old church was in use until 1932, and finally razed in 1934.

An interesting note: BGSU's Center for Archival Collections has a set of scrapbooks from the parish's Loyola Club, which had a special outreach to men of the parish serving in World War I. Click HERE for more details.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Holy Water

At the entrance to St. Mary's church, Millersville.

Friday, April 6, 2012

St. Mary, Tiffin

Recently repainted from solid colors.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

St. Mary, Millersville

Above, "Jesus is Stripped of His Garments." The Stations of the Cross at Millersville are paintings from Cologne, Germany, according to the parish history.

The church was dedicated in 1921.

The architectural style is Flemish-Gothic.

Nativity window above the main altar. The parish was first called "the Nativity church of Greensburg" in 1859. (A road nearby is Greensburg Pike.)

Many of the pews are from the previous church building.

Just north of the church is a new winery, Chateau Tebeau. If you look in the photo above, you can see the steeple in the middle above the grape vines. There is a limestone quarry across the road, and limestone makes for happy grapes (so I've read).