St. Joseph's Catholic Church is a historic

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church in Wapakoneta,

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. Built in 1910, this

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is home to an active Catholic

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

, and it has been declared a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

because of its well-preserved

Romanesque Revival architecture Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

Early parish history

One of the first two Catholic priests in northern Ohio was John William Horstmann, a native of Osnabrück who had settled in the village of Glandorf to the north. Starting in 1832, he made monthly journeys of to Stallotown to the south.Brown, Mary Ann and Mary Niekamp. '.

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, July 1978. Accessed 2009-11-21. As Wapakoneta lies midway between these communities, he often visited with and celebrated

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

for its few Catholic families.McMurray, William J., ed. ''History of Auglaize County Ohio''. Vol. 1.

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

: Historical Publishing Company, 1923. After four years of these travels, he established a parish at Petersburg, approximately south of Wapakoneta.DeLorme. ''Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer''. 7th ed. Yarmouth:

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, 2004, 46. . By 1839, the Catholic community in Wapakoneta had grown to the point that it could be created a separate parish, and the members built a 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 ...

church on the southeastern corner of the intersection of Pearl and Blackhoof Streets near the city's downtown. Although no resident pastor served the parish in its earliest years, membership grew during the 1840s and 1850s, and a priest was first assigned to the church in 1857. The expenses of maintaining even a small church caused the parish to be deep in debt during its earliest years, but it prospered greatly under the pastorate of Joseph Gregory Dwenger, later Bishop of Fort Wayne. Since 1850, the parish has been served by priests from the Congregation of the Precious Blood.Fullenkamp, Leonard. "History of St. Joseph Catholic Parish". Auglaize County Historical Society, ed. ''A History of Auglaize County Ohio''.

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: Hubbard, 1980, 103-104.

Church building

By the late 1850s, the parish's membership had grown significantly, and the original church had become too small; consequently, a larger brick structure was built to the east of the original building in 1858. Among its most distinctive elements were a massive single tower, four bells, and a large pipe organ. In later years, elderly parishioners remembered the organ and bells favorably: purchased for $2,200 and $1,700 respectively, they were seen as equal to any instruments of the twentieth century and as worthy of installation in the present church building respectively. This church was replaced in turn by the present structure in the early twentieth century. Construction of this

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

building began under the direction of the DeCurtins family in 1910, and it was dedicated on October 8, 1911. A brick building supported by a stone

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, 2007. Accessed 2010-06-20. the church includes architectural features such as two

towers A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

and a large

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

at the front, underneath which worshippers may enter the building through several large arched doors. Architectural historians have divided the Precious Blood-related churches of western Ohio into multiple generations. Only a few buildings remain from the first generation, which consisted primarily of small wooden churches, and only St. John's Church in Fryburg remains essentially unchanged. Replacing these wooden buildings were the churches of the second generation, which were generally small brick buildings without tall spires. The churches of the third generation are mostly High Gothic Revival structures with tall towers, but the final generation of churches includes a wide range of styles. As a Romanesque Revival church built in 1910, St. Joseph's is one of the newest churches in the region, and it plainly is a part of the final generation.

Related buildings

School

In 1853, the church purchased a frame building adjacent to its property and quickly opened a parish elementary school inside. After sixteen years, a larger structure was desired, and a larger brick building was erected immediately to the east of the church at a cost of $4,000. Continued growth necessitated its replacement by a newer building in 1899; this structure is still standing. With features such as towers and turrets, St. Joseph's School is one of the most architecturally-prominent Catholic schools in the region, along with schools in Minster, St. Henry, and

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. As the parish continued to expand, a

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was opened in 1919; its classes met in the elementary school building until a new building was completed in 1961. However, financial issues caused the high school's closure in 1974; the elementary students were then transferred to the former high school, and the original elementary school was then leased to the

Wapakoneta City School District The Wapakoneta City School District is a public school district in Auglaize County, Ohio, United States. The district encompasses the city of Wapakoneta; the villages of Buckland and Cridersville, the unincorporated communities of Fryburg, ...

Rectory

As well as completing its school in 1899, the parish also built a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

in the same year. Expanded in 1922, the rectory was later converted into a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

Recent history

Current condition

Today, St. Joseph's Church is an active parish of the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cincinnati () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church that covers all of the dioceses in the State of Ohio. As of 2025, the archbishop of Cincinnati is Robert Casey. T ...

. It is clustered with St. John parish in Fryburg, and the entire cluster is part of the St. Marys

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

.The Futures Project

. Accessed 2010-06-20.

Recognition

In 1979, St. Joseph's Church and School were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

because of their place in Ohio's history and because of their well-preserved historic architecture. They were among more than thirty different properties included in the "Cross-Tipped Churches of Ohio Thematic Resources," a

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

of architecturally-important churches and church-related buildings in western Ohio related to the Congregation of the Precious Blood. These churches, primarily Gothic Revival structures with massive towers, have become the namesake of this heavily Catholic region, which is commonly 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 ...

References

External links

Parish websiteOhio Historic Inventory and NRHP property report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Catholic Church, Wapakoneta, Ohio 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Roman Catholic churches completed in 1910 Churches in the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches Religious organizations established in 1839 Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati Romanesque Revival church buildings in Ohio Buildings and structures in Wapakoneta, Ohio Churches in Auglaize County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Auglaize County, Ohio 1839 establishments in Ohio Yost and Packard buildings