St. Mary's Catholic Church (Dayton, Ohio)

File:Saint Mary Catholic Church (Dayton, Ohio) - stained glass, Adoration of the Shepherds - tight crop.JPG]]

Emanuel Church, the first Catholic parish in Dayton, was formed in 1837.Drury, A.W. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hhObs4HhLlEC History of the City of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio]. Vol. 1. Chicago and Dayton: Clarke, 1900.{{rp|357}} Many English-speaking families left to form a separate parish in 1846, but Emanuel continued growing to the point that division was necessary by the end of the 1850s. Accordingly, land was chosen on Xenia Avenue at the Allen Street intersection in one of the city's eastern neighborhoods, and the owner donated enough property to permit the construction of a church, rectory, and school.{{rp|358}} Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati laid the cornerstone in April 1859, and the finished building was consecrated by Purcell and Henry Damian Juncker, the Bishop of Alton, in August of the following year. The building measured {{convert|110|x|50|ft}}, but by the opening years of the twentieth century, the parish had outgrown it, and construction began on a new building; Archbishop Moeller laid the cornerstone in July 1905 and consecrated it in November 1906.{{rp|359}} Growth continued, and St. Anthony's Church was established in 1913 by families coming out of St. Mary's.Lamott, John H. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5w0MAQAAIAAJ History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati: 1821-1921]. New York and Cincinnati: Pustet, 1921, 161.

St. Mary's remains an active part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to the present day. Masses are celebrated both in English and in Spanish.[http://www.catholiccincinnati.org/parish-info/?id=142 St. Mary - Dayton], Archdiocese of Cincinnati, 2013. Accessed 2013-11-11.

File:Saint Mary Catholic Church (Dayton, Ohio) - nave, view from the loft.JPG

The current St. Mary's Church is a Romanesque Revival structure built in a mix of brick and stone. Constructed according to a design by John B. Vermont,{{OHC NRHP|83002012|St Mary Roman Catholic Church}}, Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2013-11-11. the design features two massive clock towers on the three-bay facade. Three large doorways piece the facade at the top of a staircase, with occasional large windows and numerous pairs of narrower windows on higher levels. Each window is topped with a dormered dome above the clock.Dalton, Curt. [https://books.google.com/books?id=e2X0JqKvTpoC Dayton]. Charleston: Arcadia, 2006, 51. Built at a cost of $125,000 (or ${{Inflation|US|125000|1905|2013}} in 2013 dollars),{{rp|359}} the church is a landmark because of the twin towers; during World War II, Army aviators used it as a waypoint when navigating to the runways at Wright Field.

In April 1983, St. Mary's Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Although as a religious property it would not normally be considered eligible for designation,[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/publications/bulletins/nrb15/nrb15_2.htm National Register Criteria for Evaluation], National Park Service. Accessed 2013-11-10. it nevertheless qualified because of its distinctive historic architecture. It is one of five Dayton churches on the Register, along with Sacred Heart, St. Adalbert's, and Holy Cross Catholic Churches and First Lutheran Church.

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.stmarydayton.org/ Parish website]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ETgLmkqzxI Video with numerous images of the church's interior]

{{commons category|Saint Mary Catholic Church (Dayton, Ohio)}}

{{Churches in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

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Category:Roman Catholic churches completed in 1890

Category:Roman Catholic churches in Dayton, Ohio

Category:Clock towers in Ohio

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Ohio

Category:Romanesque Revival church buildings in Ohio

Category:Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio

Category:19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States