The first Catholic church in Dayton was Emmanuel on Franklin Street, built in 1837.
At first it primarily served German parishioners, but Dayton’s rapid growth and subsequent increase in its Catholic population led to the parish becoming overcrowded, so it was divided more than once in the ensuing decades.
The second Catholic parish to be formed was St. Joseph’s at East Second and Madison. It was founded in 1846 by Irish Catholics led by Father Patrick O’Mealy who was born in Limerick.
By 1883 that church too became crowded, inspiring some of its members to leave to form Sacred Heart Church at Fourth and Wilkinson.
And in 1909, the original St. Joseph’s was demolished for the beautiful Italian Byzantine church we see today, with its tower set back towards the sanctuary.
The St. Joseph parochial school was built in 1876 and still stands; however, it has been stripped of its cornice and many architectural details.
(Update: the school was demolished in the middle of 2020 after a preservation effort was unable to save it.)
St. Mary’s Church
A little over a decade after St. Joseph’s was founded in 1846, Emmanuel Catholic Church had again grown enough to require a new congregation.
Land on Xenia Ave was chosen for the new parish, to be called St. Mary’s, and it was mainly German-speaking Catholics who moved to the new church.
The familiar church with twin towers that we see today was not the original one on the site, however. In 1859, the first St. Mary’s was built (image below).
This church was demolished in 1905 for the new Romanesque church on the same site, which as come to be one of the most iconic churches in Dayton, a landmark that can seen from many areas in the city and the inspiration for the name of the surrounding neighborhood Twin Towers.
The following image depicts the main altar and marble sanctuary:
Author Curt Dalton expanded on the church’s interior details: “In 1921, the church was frescoed and Tiffany-style glass artist lanterns were installed. The following year, 1,200 square feet of variegated Italian Pietrasanta marble were laid in the sanctuary. Marble formed in the Italian Apennine Mountains near Pietrasanta is so valued for sculptures that Michaelangelo owned his own marble quarry there.”
During World War II, pilots used the large towers of St. Mary’s as a guiding landmark to help them land at nearby Wright Field. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
St. Mary’s isn’t the only Catholic church sporting twin towers, however.
The Current Emmanuel Catholic Church
Returning to the original Catholic parish discussed above, Emmanuel also upgraded to a new building in 1873, which was at that time the largest church building in Dayton.
Today, however, the towers which were originally 212 feet tall have shrunk considerably:
Holy Trinity Catholic Church
As we have seen, most of the earliest parishes rebuilt their churches at some point. The oldest Catholic church building still standing today is the 1860 Holy Trinity church at Fifth and Bainbridge Streets, another east side parish formed just after St. Mary’s.
This church also holds the distinction as the only institution spared from urban renewal of the former Haymarket neighborhood in the early 1960s.
These are the earliest Catholic parishes formed in Dayton, but there were quite a few more established in the ensuing years in all parts of the city.
Some are still active and their beautiful places of worship still stand while others have since consolidated or become defunct, and some of the churches, such as St. Gabriel’s Romanian Greek Catholic Church on Summit St near West Fifth, have been demolished.
Historic images courtesy of Dayton Metro Library, Current Emmanuel image by Nheyob
My grandparents who lived on Eagle St. were parishioners at Holy Trinity. I was baptized there. I went to school at Holy Family until we moved to Park Layne in Mad River Township, now Riverside in 1962. My great grandparents were from Germany. They were the Pfeiffer Family. Very interesting pictures. What about St. Stephen’s and St. Adelbert on Troy St.? Thanks.
Thanks Steve. And yes! I know St. Adalbert’s became Dayton’s ninth Catholic parish in 1903 and was the first Eastern European one. I believe St. Stephen’s was originally founded to serve Hungarians in the Kossuth Colony. I’ll have to write a followup article with the churches I didn’t get a chance to fit into this piece.
I went to Holy Name church and school in the 50s and 60s. Father Welibel was our pastor. The nuns were the sisters of the precious blood. The church and school closed and we all went to St. Agnes on Superior Avenue.
So happy to see that my cousin, Stev(ie) Flickinger has posted some family memories about our family history at Holy Trinity. I too, was baptized, attended school, received all my sacraments at Holy Trinity. As well, I was married there and my 2 children were baptized at Holy Trinity. Holy Trinity holds so many memories to our family. My mother, Margaret sang in the choir, including several years prior to her death. Her funeral and my Dad’s (Braun) funeral were held at Holy Trinity. I returned to Dayton in the summer of 1982 to attend a 25th anniversary of our 8th grade class reunion. Some of us remain in contact on Facebook. In my opinion, I remain a proud Daytonian and happily, a proud Holy Trinitarian.
not only does Bainbridge have this monumental church, the school, the residence of the pastor, but also the structure that housed the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. There is untarnished history in the area of Fifth and Bainbridge that remains strong to many. Who says “you can never go home?”
Sweet memories cuz.
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Wonder why you did not mention Holy Family Church at East Fifth and Findlay St. It was built in 1903 but was later remodeled. I was baptized there, graduated from the school on S. Monmouth St., was married there and all five of my children also graduated from Holy Family Grade School, Would love to see an article and pictures of both the Church and School.
I went to Holy Name grade school and St. Agnes. Both now gone. Went to high school at Colonel White and JJ Patterson Coop. In the 60s.
Holy Name church and school are still standing on Conover Stbut not used as church and school Janice Kender Koestler I was in the last class to graduate in 1961
friends with sisters Mary Laura, Betty
Hi Janice…we were neighbors…the Knopp’s. I saw your comment while looking for old pictures of Holy Name School!