Tuesday, May 16, 2017

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.

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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 16, 2017 at 7:55 AM

    Hey Dan - Loved DeLuca's Italian bread and doughnuts after church. Made all that kneeling worthwhile. Todd

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  2. Dan BradyMay 16, 2017 at 8:47 AM

    Great comment, Todd! That's right, you can see a little bit of the bakery building in the shot!

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  3. Loraine RitcheyMay 16, 2017 at 8:53 AM

    and at the corner stone (laying) death

    the pit!

    “Three hundred Persons Precipitated Into an Excavation – A Child Trampled to Death- The Town in Mourning”


    Although there were a thousand men ready to rush to the rescue , they could render little aid to the persons in the pit….. when assistance finally reached the unfortunate victims , several already had been trampled to death and others had been fatally injured.

    This accident happened in 1895 during the dedication of St. Mary’s Church – the same church now slated for closure – the whole article can be found here
    http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9403E7D9113DE433A25754C0A9669D94649ED7CF

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  4. AnonymousMay 16, 2017 at 1:24 PM

    Our parents were married at St Marys in 1957. The will celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary on May 18th!
    Kurowski family

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  5. UnknownMay 17, 2017 at 10:48 AM

    That was an interesting article Loraine I never knew that happened.

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  6. AnonymousMay 17, 2017 at 7:39 PM

    In Loraine Ritchey's link,,,,, There is reference to another " Col. Brown " he made it out OK........ lol That was a very interesting link. Is there any mention in an area newspaper from the time ?? Bill N

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  7. Loraine RitcheyMay 17, 2017 at 8:07 PM

    I never found anything but that newspaper account and that was sent to me from a reader of my blog who lives out of state. Dan how about you have you ever come across any more local info. I would have thought something of that magnitude happening would have made for local coverage.

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  8. Dan BradyMay 18, 2017 at 7:50 AM

    Hi Loraine,
    I remember a few years ago checking the available microfilm rolls at the library, which are spotty pre-1900; unfortunately, the particular date of the church tragedy was in one of the gaps if I remember correctly.

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