St. Mary's Catholic Church is a historic

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parish church in the city of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

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 ...

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. Constructed in the 1880s, this grand building is home to a congregation established in the middle of the nineteenth century. Its grand style has long made it a community landmark, and it was named a historic landmark in 1980.

Parish history

Delaware's first Masses were celebrated by travelling priests in the homes of the city's few Catholics,''History of Delaware County and Ohio''.

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: O.L. Baskin, 1880, 403. most of whom were Irish or German immigrants.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 326-327. The first of these was likely said in 1835 by a French missionary priest in the home of Adam Mueller on Park Avenue. The members built the first St. Mary's Church, a small plain frame building that was a mission church of Holy Cross Church in 1854, and were ministered to by traveling priests including future bishops

Caspar Borgess Caspar Henry Borgess (August 1, 1826 – May 3, 1890) was a German-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the second Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, Bishop of Detroit, serving from 1871 to 1887. Biography Early life Borgess wa ...

and Edward Fitzgerald. However, six years passed before Archbishop Purcell appointed the first priest to serve as the pastor on December 1, 1856. This man, Casper Wiese, quickly founded a

parish school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

and bought a piece of land for use as a parish cemetery. A series of short-tenured pastorates followed Wiese's four-year time; the longest, that of Henry Fehlings, ended during the process of regional reorganization following the creation of the Diocese of Columbus. Fehlings' pastorate saw the parish expand outward from its small

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

building: a brick addition to the church was constructed in 1865, a nearby store was purchased and converted into premises for the parish school, and a nearby house was purchased and converted into a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

. By 1880, the parish had reached a membership of approximately seven hundred. In 1886, the present house of worship, made of brick trimmed with sandstone and ornamental terra-cotta began to be constructed on William Street near downtown. The cornerstone was laid in 1887 and the church was solemnly blessed by bishop John Watterson in October of 1888. Today, St. Mary's remains an active component of the Diocese of Columbus. It is one of three parishes in Delaware County, along with St. Joan of Arc in

Powell Powell may refer to: People * Powell (surname) * Powell (given name) * Powell baronets, several baronetcies *Colonel Powell (disambiguation), several military officers *General Powell (disambiguation), several military leaders *Governor Powell (di ...

and St. John Neumann in Sunbury.

Architecture

St. Mary's is a brick structure supported on a foundation of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and covered with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roof. Designed by

Adolphus Druiding Adolphus Druiding (1838–1900) was a German-born American architect who was best known for his work in creating Roman Catholic churches, schools, rectories and convents. Druiding’s work along with that of fellow German immigrant Franz Georg H ...

, the building is a

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 ...

structure dominated by a pair of towers on the facade. The towers sit on either side of the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d main portion of the building; the tower on the right, as seen by a person facing the building, is substantially taller than the tower on the left. Six ogive windows pierce the side, one per

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, while individual and paired windows are placed on various heights in the towers; clocks are set in the taller tower, and both are topped with tall

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

s that can be seen throughout Delaware., Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2014-01-09. Extensive and ornate detailing is present, including numerous

wood carving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

s, elaborate

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

in the windows, and decorative placement of bricks. Inside, columns separate the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

from the side aisles, and the two altars are built of wood that has been both painted and carven. The extensive artisanship of the church makes it differ greatly from the rectory; although three stories tall and built of brick, it is far plainer than the church.

Historic site

In 1980, St. Mary's Church and its rectory were listed together 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 ...

, qualifying because of their historically significant architecture. They together comprise one of seventeen National Register-listed locations in the city of Delaware, along with places such as the

Delaware County Courthouse Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent D ...

downtown and

Selby Field Selby Field, usually referred to simply as Selby, is the football, field hockey, track & field and lacrosse field at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, where the Battling Bishops play. Selby has a seating capacity of 9,100, with all se ...

on the

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...

campus.

References

External links

Church website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Delaware, Ohio Roman Catholic churches completed in 1886 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Buildings and structures in Delaware, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Delaware County, Ohio Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus German-American culture in Ohio Gothic Revival church buildings in Ohio Irish-American culture in Ohio Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio U.S. Route 36 Tourist attractions in Delaware County, Ohio