St. John Catholic Church is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church in the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Fryburg in Pusheta Township,

Auglaize County Auglaize County () is a county in Northwestern Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,442. Its county seat is Wapakoneta. Auglaize County comprises the Wapakoneta Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also includ ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The parish was established in 1848, the same year in which the community was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

ted, and construction was completed in 1850. A

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

in connection with the church was established in 1877. Both buildings feature fine architecture: the church includes

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

elements such as ornate

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s and

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s, while the former school is a good example of

Federal architecture Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1.

St. Clair Shores St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake St. Clair in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of downtown Detroit. Its population was 59,715 at the 2010 ...

: Somerset, 1999, 56. St. John's is one of many churches in western Ohio that historically has been served by the

Society of the Precious Blood The Society of the Precious Blood is an Anglican religious order of contemplative sisters with convents in England, Lesotho and South Africa. The sisters follow the Rule of St Augustine. History The Order dates its history from 1905 when Mother ...

. It is one of the oldest extant Catholic churches in the region known as the "

Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches The Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches is a rural region in the western part of the U.S. state of Ohio, centered near Maria Stein, Ohio, Maria Stein in Mercer County, Ohio, Mercer County. Its name is derived from the dense concentration of large Cath ...

": most contemporary churches in the region were log structures that have disappeared. Only St. Augustine's Church in Minster to the southwest remains a church, and it has been significantly modified by the addition of twin towers decades after construction. St. John retains its historic

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

exterior, and its

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

ed ceiling has been recognized as a leading aspect of its architecture.Brown, Mary Ann, and Mary Niekamp. ', 2. National Park Service, July 1978. Accessed 2009-11-09. Throughout the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati The Archdiocese of Cincinnati ( la, Archidiœcesis Cincinnatensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese that covers the southwest region of the U.S. state of Ohio, including the greater Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan ...

, there is only one church older than St. John's that survives without significant structural changes. St. John's and its parish hall were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1979, along with St. Augustine's and many other churches related to the Society of the Precious Blood in western Ohio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John Catholic Church, Fryburg, Ohio Roman Catholic churches completed in 1850 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Religious organizations established in 1848 Churches in Auglaize County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Auglaize County, Ohio Churches in the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches Federal architecture in Ohio Gothic Revival church buildings in Ohio Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati 1848 establishments in Ohio