St. Mary's Catholic Church (Massillon, Ohio)

St. Mary's Catholic Church is a historic Catholic church building in the city of Massillon, Ohio, United States. Constructed in 1876 for a congregation composed largely of European immigrants, it has been named a historic site.

St. Mary's Catholic Church
Front of the church
Location in Ohio
Location in United States
Location206 Cherry Rd., NE, Massillon, Ohio
Coordinates40°48′8″N 81°31′22″W
AreaLess than 1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1876 (1876)
ArchitectLeon Beaver
Architectural styleGothic Revival
NRHP reference No.79001952[1]
Added to NRHPApril 16, 1979

The origins of St. Mary parish lie among numerous Germans and Irish who settled in Massillon in its early years and built a small house of worship on Cherry Road in the 1840s. This building stood until 1875, when it was destroyed so that the present church might occupy its location; it was built in 1876.[2] The designer was Leon Beaver,[1] a Dayton architect. He was assisted in design and in stonecarving by Massillon resident John Verment, who later designed St. Joseph's Catholic Church elsewhere in Massillon.[3]

Built primarily of sandstone,[1] St. Mary's is a high Gothic Revival structure with a facade of two nearly identical towers and a Latin cross floor plan. The entire building measures 185 feet (56 m) from north to south and 85 feet (26 m) on the sides.[2] Sculptures are placed in small alcoves on the second stories of the towers and at the peak of the front gable, while windows and belfries occupy the higher stories of the towers. The main entrance comprises three adjacent portals underneath a large rose window at the center of the facade. Both the buttresses and the corners of the towers rise to decorative finials, while a large cross crowns the front gable.[4]

In addition to its usual functions as a parish church, St. Mary's houses a shrine to St. Dymphna,[5] a mediaeval Irish virgin martyr,[6] although the shrine needed a complete reconstruction after being destroyed in a 2015 fire.[7] The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in early 1979, qualifying because of its historically significant architecture. It is one of four Massillon churches with this designation, along with First Methodist Church, John Verment's St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and St. Timothy's Episcopal Church.[1] The parish remains an active part of the Diocese of Youngstown.[8]

On August 4, 2015, a fire broke out in the church, ultimately destroying a baptistery and a shrine. The structure of the building survived, but heavy smoke caused much destruction.[9] After closing for cleaning and restoration, St. Mary's reopened on December 25, 2016.[10]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Owen, Lorrie K., ed. Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1299-1300.
  3. Knapp, Amy. "Architect Left Mark on Massillon, Historic Church. The Independent, 2010-07-18. Accessed 2015-01-02.
  4. St. Mary's Catholic Church, Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2010-02-18.
  5. Nix, Katie. "Massillon Church Celebrates Lesser-Known Saint", Akron Beacon Journal, 2014-05-15. Accessed 2015-01-02.
  6. Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Dymphna." Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Appleton, 1909.
  7. Lambo, Ann-Margaret. "Lutherans Offer Practical Help to Massillon St. Mary in Wake of Fire to Historic Church", The Catholic Exponent, 2015-08-14. Accessed 2015-09-15.
  8. Parishes - Stark, Diocese of Youngstown, 2014. Accessed 2015-01-02.
  9. Knapp, Amy L. "Fire damages St. Mary's Catholic Church in Massillon". The Repository. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  10. TEGNA. "St. Mary Catholic Church in Massillon reopens". WKYC. Retrieved 2017-01-19.

Media related to St. Mary's Catholic Church (Massillon, Ohio) at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.