St. Louis Catholic Church (North Star, Ohio)
St. Louis Catholic Church and Rectory | |
NRHP reference No. | 79002835[1] |
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Added to NRHP | July 26, 1979 |
St. Louis Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in North Star, Ohio, United States. Constructed in the early twentieth century, it is one of the newest churches in a heavily Catholic region of far western Ohio, but it has been recognized as a historic site because of its unique architecture.
Parish history
The parish that became St. Louis Church was established in the vicinity of North Star in 1892;[2] at this time, it was dedicated to St. John, and its first church was located in the countryside nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) east of North Star. Shortly after this building was completed in 1893, the parish was attached for administrative purposes to St. Denis parish in Versailles,[3] approximately 7 miles (11 km) to the southeast.[4] In 1906, the attachment was changed to St. Nicholas parish in Osgood,[3] only 3 miles (4.8 km) away to the northeast.[4] By the early 1910s, the parish had decided to move to North Star,[3] and its new building was completed in the village in 1914.[1] Still remaining at the church's original site is the parish cemetery,[5] which lies at the intersection of Mangen and North Star-Fort Loramie Roads.[4]
Architecture
The church is a rectangular, single-story structure with multiple gables and an off-center square bell tower. Walls of white-painted stucco rest on a concrete foundation and are topped by an asphalt roof. The interior is lit by windows of many shapes and sizes: a rose window is located above the entrance, wide stained glass windows topped with rounded arches line the walls, and narrow rectangular windows appear in the tower. While the church reflects a range of architectural styles, many of its elements, such as the cornices on the bell tower, bear evidence of the French Renaissance style. No other Catholic church in the region resembles St. Louis Church;[6] the ecclesiastical architecture of the region typically employs the Gothic Revival style.[7]: 3
Rectory
Adjacent to the church on the west is a brick
Recent history
In 1977, the church and rectory were recorded by an architectural survey, the Ohio Historic Inventory; it assessed both buildings as being in good condition without any threats to their integrity.
Today, St. Louis Church is an active parish of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It is part of the Northwest 5 family of parishes with St. Remy's in Russia, St. Denis in Versailles, Holy Family in Frenchtown, St. Mary's in Greenville and St. Nicholas in Osgood.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ Fortin, Roger. Faith and Action: A History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati 1821-1996 Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2002, 401.
- ^ a b c Wilson, Frazer. History of Darke County Ohio: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. Vol. 1. Milford: Hobart, 1914, 585.
- ^ ISBN 0-89933-281-1.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Saint Louis Cemetery
- ^ Ohio Historical Society, April 1977.
- ^ a b c Brown, Mary Ann and Mary Niekamp. National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Cross-Tipped Churches Thematic Resources. National Park Service, July 1978. Accessed 2009-11-21.
- ^ Ohio Historical Society, September 1977.
- ^ Parish Website