St. Patrick's Catholic Church was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in northwestern Shelby County,

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. Located in the southwestern corner of Van Buren Township, the church sat at the intersection of Hoying and Wright-Puthoff Roads in the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

of St. Patrick.

Parish history

St. Patrick parish was organized in 1862 among a primarily Irish population. Although the region was settled primarily by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

farmers, the members at St. Patrick were generally laborers who had been recruited to participate in the construction of the

Miami and Erie Canal The Miami and Erie Canal was a canal that ran from Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, creating a water route between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. Construction on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1845 at a co ...

through western Shelby County. Starting one year later, the parish was served by priests from the

Missionaries of the Precious Blood The Missionaries of the Precious Blood () is a Catholic community of priests and brothers. The society was founded by Saint Gaspar del Bufalo in 1815. The name "Missionaries of the Precious Blood" is a shortened English translation of the La ...

;Brown, Mary Ann. ''Ohio Historic Inventory Nomination: St. Patrick Catholic Church''.

Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

, October 1977. these priests were based in Minster,Brown, Mary Ann and Mary Niekamp. '.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, July 1978. Accessed 2010-03-09. nearly five miles to the northwest. The parish built a log

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in 1863; it was replaced by a

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 in 1871. Members in the vicinity of McCartyville to the northeast were created a separate parish in 1882, weakening the original parish.

Architecture

By the 1910s, the old frame building had proved insufficient for the church's needs. Consequently, the parish arranged for the erection of its third and final church, a

Flemish bond Flemish bond is a pattern of brickwork that is a common feature in Georgian architecture. The pattern features bricks laid lengthwise (''stretchers'') alternating with bricks laid with their shorter ends exposed (''headers'') within the same cou ...

brick structure constructed in a transitional

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

style of architecture. This building was based on a foundation of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

and a

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 tile roof; the rectangular church featured a square

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

on its southwestern corner. The interior featured

fresco Fresco ( 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 plaster, the painting become ...

es and a prominent statue of

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

(the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of Ireland); it was lit by multiple windows of

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

. As a large church in a rural setting served by priests of the Society of the Precious Blood, St. Patrick's was closely connected to many other churches in western Ohio: wide areas of western Ohio that were primarily settled by Catholics feature large churches at sparsely populated crossroads. While most of these churches are constructed in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style of architecture, some of the newer churches of the region — including St. Patrick's — appear in a variety of styles; St. Patrick's was one of the few that lacked the high

steeples In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religio ...

of the Gothic Revival structures. The leading role of these churches in western Shelby County and the lands somewhat farther west has caused the region to be nicknamed 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 ...

Other buildings

St. Patrick's Church was one of four properties owned by the parish in the community of St. Patrick. Located to the east of the church was the parish

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

; across Hoying Road to the north was the former parish school, built in 1906; and to the east is the brick

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 ...

. A square two-story structure, the rectory features a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

and a stone foundation. The parish built the rectory in 1919 to house its pastor; before its construction, St. Patrick's was served by priests from St. Michael's Church in

Fort Loramie Fort Loramie is a village in Shelby County, Ohio, United States, along Loramie Creek, a tributary of the Great Miami River in southwestern Ohio. It is 42 miles north-northwest of Dayton and 20 miles east of the Ohio/Indiana border. The populati ...

to the southwest.Brown, Mary Ann. ''Ohio Historic Inventory Nomination: St. Patrick Catholic Rectory''.

, October 1977.

Recent history

In 1977, the church and rectory were recorded by the Ohio Historic Inventory for the purpose of

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

; both buildings were ranked in good condition without any significant risks. Two years later, they were listed together 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 ...

, along with over thirty other buildings in the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches. When these churches were listed, it was feared that some rural churches were ultimately endangered by changing demographics; while all of the other churches remain active parishes, St. Patrick's has closed. While the parish was listed as being in operation in 1996, it no longer appears on the website 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 ...

, and the church has been destroyed. A small memorial occupies the site of the church, while the rectory remains in its place.View of site provided by

this This may refer to: * ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun Places * This (Egypt), or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt * This, Ardennes, a commune in France * This, a country mentioned in the ''Periplus of the Erythraea ...

picture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patricks Catholic Church, Saint Patrick, Ohio Roman Catholic churches completed in 1915 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Churches in the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches Former Roman Catholic church buildings in Ohio Irish-American culture in Ohio Italianate architecture in Ohio Religious organizations established in 1862 Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati Buildings and structures in Shelby County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Shelby County, Ohio 1862 establishments in Ohio Italianate church buildings in the United States