St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church
About this property
St. Joseph's Church is a historic Catholic church in the city of Springfield, Ohio, United States. Established in the 1880s to serve southeastern Springfield's growing Catholic population, it uses a tall Romanesque Revival church building, which was designed by a leading city architect; the building has been named a historic site. As late as the year 1, not a single Catholic was resident in Clark County, but twenty Catholic families moved to Springfield between 1835 and 1845, and by 1850 there were approximately seventy Catholic families in the city. In 1849, the Bishop of Cincinnati created Springfield's first parish, Saint Raphael. By the 1880s, large numbers of Catholics were living on Springfield's southeastern side, and preparations for a separate parish began with the purchase of three lots of land in 1881. A parish school building was begun in 1882, and the new Church of St. Joseph was created a separate parish in the same year. By late 1883, the school was open, and C.M. Berding was appointed the first parish priest on New Year's Day 1884. During his ministry, construction began on the present building in 1892; extensive debt was taken on, but the work of Berding and his two successors saw the building raised to architectural grandeur and the debt reduced to nearly nothing. By 1908, the parish comprised four hundred member families, and the school enrolled approximately four hundred and fifty children. St. Joseph's is a tall Gothic Revival structure crowned by a prominent spire atop its bell tower. Built of brick on an uncollected foundation, the building is decorated with elements of brick and stone. The facade is divided into three bays, with the middle protruding slightly from the side bays. Entrances are placed in each bay, with a large pointed-arch window above the central entrance and three smaller such windows above the side. Polygonal engaged columns are placed on the corners, rising to small pointed towers above the edge of the steep roof. Many of the building's windows are filled with stained glass. Construction was financed by loans; between the borrowed money and interest on the loans, the parish spent $76,000 to build their church and school. The architect was Charles A. Cregar, one of the most prominent architects in Springfield's history. By the time he was chosen for St. Joseph's Church, Cregar had established himself as a Romanesque Revival architect, due to his designs for buildings such as the city hall; while St. Joseph's Church is generally a Romanesque Revival structure, due to elements such as apparent machicolations, the windows and the high steeple demonstrate Gothic Revival influences.
Location
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church listed on the National Register?
St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 15, 1982.
What type of historic resource is St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church?
St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church?
The period of significance for St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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