St. Nicholas Catholic Church (Osgood, Ohio)

A stained glass window in the church depicting Saint Nicholas

Although Osgood lies near such heavily Catholic communities such as Minster and Fort Loramie,[2][3]^:8 its early settlers were predominantly Protestant.[4] Accordingly, the formation of a Catholic parish in Osgood came far later than the formation of parishes in nearby villages; St. Augustine's Church in Minster and St. Michael's Church in Fort Loramie were established by 1850,[3]^:2 but the foundations of a parish in Osgood were not laid until 1904,[4] and formal establishment of the parish came in 1906.[5] In its earliest years, the Mass was celebrated in common buildings; after worshipping for a time in a school, the parishioners purchased a barn for ecclesiastical purposes. For many years, the improvement of the parish's facilities was hindered by its size; the fewness of its members meant that money was frequently scarce.[4] Nevertheless, parishioners took significant steps in late 1906; their first temporary church was completed in September, and in this year they purchased a tract of land on the eastern side of the village. Construction of a permanent brick church soon began, and the finished church was dedicated on September 6, 1908 after costing $22,000. By 1914, membership had increased to eighty-five families from just thirty-five families in 1906.[5]

The church nave.

The church rests upon a stone foundation with a basement. Brick walls, trimmed with stone, are laid in a stretcher bond, and the building is covered by an asphalt roof. Its plan is primarily that of a rectangle, but gables on each side have the effect of forming a slight transept.[4]

The church's dominant feature is its octagonal steeple, located atop a tower at the entrance. Equipped with a belfry and ornamented with corbelling, the tower is topped with a golden cross. Worshippers enter the church through a vestibule and proceed through the base of the tower; until the addition with the vestibule was built in 1970, the church's exterior doors were a part of the tower.[4]

Parishioners erected a brick rectory for their pastor in 1914. Supported by a foundation with a basement and topped with an asphalt hip roof, the two-story house lies adjacent to the church's eastern side. Among its features are a porch that faces the church on the house's western side and a dormer that pierces the house's southern roof. The house is a square, three bays wide on each of its sides.[6]

In 1977, an architectural survey ranked St. Nicholas Church in good condition, both inside and out; it was noted that there were no significant threats to the building's continued existence.[4] Two years later, the church and its rectory were added together to the National Register of Historic Places for their architectural significance. Twenty-six other church buildings in the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches were listed on the National Register at the same time; two others in Darke County, St. Louis' Church in North Star and Holy Family Church in Frenchtown, were among these churches.[1]

Today, St. Nicholas remains an active parish of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It is clustered with St. Louis parish in North Star and St. Remy's Catholic Church in Russia; the entire cluster is a part of the Sidney Deanery.[7]

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