It ran in that paper on Saturday, May 5, 1917 and tells the story of the impending demolition of the city's oldest Catholic church building to make way for a new central electric power station for the Lorain County Electric Company.
The church originally had been erected in 1873 at Reid Avenue and Eighth Street as a place for St. Mary's parish to worship. In 1883 it was moved to the rear of the property and replaced by a new building.
Eleven years later the newer building was destroyed by fire, and the original structure was pressed back into service for a year until a new St. Mary's was built in 1895. The old church building was then sold to Anton Schmidt, who moved to the rear of his property on Second Street. There, it was used to store ice.
The property, and thus the old church building as well, changed hands a few times during the ensuing years. Its last owner before being sold to the Lorain County Electric company was A. E. Willis.
I like the fact that 97 years ago the newspaper saw the significance of a historic structure and paid it an appropriate tribute on the front page with a well-researched article.
****
According to this article on the Morning Journal's website, St. Mary Church was originally forced to merge with Holy Trinity Church on Elyria Avenue as part of Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Lennon's 2009 edict. The merged church was called Mary, Mother of God. The Vatican later overruled the edict and restored the St. Mary church name in 2012 – which was only fitting for Lorain's oldest Catholic Church.