Posts Tagged
Gail Finke
St James of the Valley

1850 The first settlers arrive in what became the Village, now City, of Wyoming (named in 1861 for a county in Pennsylvania). 1887 Original church built at Crescent and Cooper Avenues on and purchased from a local businessman. 1892 Church lengthened to accommodate a growing parish. First St. James School …
St. Mary Hyde Park

St. Mary Parish in Hyde Park, now known for its English Gothic building with stained glass and woodwork from the country’s finest studios, held its first Masses in a former feed store. May 29, 1898 First Mass held for the new parish created by Archbishop Elder for parishioners then attending …
Little Flower

A rose garden at “Little Flower Church” in Mt. Airy was once famous around the country as “The Shrine of the Little Flower.” The garden at the northwest side of the old church is still dedicated to the Little Flower Rose Garden Society. 1926 Chapel established at corner of North …
Guardian Angels

1890 St. Gregory Seminary established in Mt. Washington for high school and college men, opening in 1891. It moved to downtown Cincinnati in 1904, when Mount St. Mary’s Seminary moved from Price Hill into the building. 1892 Guardian Angels Parish organized at the seminary with 45 families, and a small …
St John the Baptist, Middletown

Father Aloysius Gerdes was not expected to recover from surgery during St. John the Baptist Church’s construction, but he said he’d be back for another 20 years—and he was! Pastor for 46 years until his death in 1942, Father Gerdes presided over 488 marriages, 688 funerals and 2,080 baptisms. 1872 …
St. Brigid Xenia

1844 Visiting priests celebrated Masses for Irish immigrants on the porch of Jacob Klein’s home in Xenia. 1849 Parish created and named for St. Michael the Archangel. Its first pastor was Father James Kearney. 1851 Irish priest Father Thomas Blake appointed as first resident pastor. He began construction of a …
Holy Redeemer New Bremen

The precursor to Holy Redeemer Church in New Bremen was a Catholic mission that operated for 20 years. The current parish was founded more than 50 years after the mission closed. 1883 Land for a new settlement purchased by the Bremen Company of Cincinnati, for a Protestant town to be …
Holy Angels Sidney

The original building used for Masses (celebrated by visiting priests) at what is now Holy Angels Parish in Sidney was blown up by the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party (strongly supported in Ohio) in 1855. 1848 First Masses celebrated in parishioners’ homes. 1852 20 x 60-ft. former cooper’s shop purchased for …
St Ann Hamilton

Did you know St. Ann Church, Hamilton, was in grave danger of being closed after just five years as a parish, when its construction debt was two years in arrears and amounted to a whopping $350 (almost $10,400 today) per parishioner? 1908 St. Ann organized as a mission of St. …
Did You Know? St. Francis Xavier Downtown Cincinnati

1819 Christ Church, the first church in Cincinnati city limits, built on the current site of St. Francis Seraph Church at Vine and Liberty Streets. 1821 The original church moved to Sycamore street on rollers and designated the cathedral of the new Diocese of Cincinnati. It was replaced within five …