St. Mary’s Catholic Church – Then & Now

Vintage postcard of St. Mary’s currently on Ebay

Many of Lorain's beautiful churches have been featured on postcards through the years, and consequently given the “then & now” treatment on this blog. First Methodist Church appeared here in June 2016; before that, it was Church of the Redeemer in June 2011.

And above, you see the latest photo project: St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 309 W. 7th Street. According to an article in the June 21, 1955 Lorain Journal, it is the city’s oldest Catholic parish.

St. Mary’s was one of the churches which suffered damage by the Lorain Tornado. According to the same June 1955 article mentioned above, “Six of the city’s finest churches were completely demolished by the tornado of June 28, 1924. Damage was wrought to 10 others."

The church was in the news in March 2012 when the Vatican restored its original St. Mary name. (It had been lost when the church merged with Holy Trinity and was renamed Mary, Mother of God by the head of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.)

Anyway, here’s my now shot from late April, on a Sunday appropriately enough.