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

St. Mary's Catholic Church

Front of the church
Location 206 Cherry Rd., NE, Massillon, Ohio
Coordinates 40°48′8″N 81°31′22″W / 40.80222°N 81.52278°W / 40.80222; -81.52278Coordinates: 40°48′8″N 81°31′22″W / 40.80222°N 81.52278°W / 40.80222; -81.52278
Area Less than 1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built 1876 (1876)
Architect Leon Beaver
Architectural style Gothic Revival
NRHP Reference # 79001952[1]
Added to NRHP April 16, 1979

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.

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 formerly housed a shrine to St. Dymphna,[5] a mediaeval Irish virgin martyr,[6] although the shrine was 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]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.