History of St. Paul Brochure
(with pictures)
Saint Paul Roman Catholic Church
Yellow Springs Ohio
1856-2000
The 125-year-old history of St. Paul Church
illustrates in microcosm the history of our state and country. It reflects
the westward migration, and the gathering together of settlers sharing the
same faith, which provided the nucleus of settlements springing up around
the centers of opportunity.
The establishment of a diocese in 1821 in
Cincinnati and a Dominican priory in Somerset, Kentucky, in 1825, provided
the priests to minister to the early Catholic settlers in southwestern
Ohio. The first Catholics of record in this area were the transient
laborers building the Little Miami Railroad from Xenia to Springfield
between 1844-46. Mass was said for them in their huts or camps several
times during their stay.
In 1847 the families of Joseph Downey,
Martin Whalen, Dennis Day, and Patrick Hennessy moved into the local
settlement. They were served by visiting priests who celebrated Mass in
their homes. Mass was also regularly said in the Pettigrew farmhouse (the
stone building still stands) south of the Little Miami River, and sometime
later in the bowling alley of the Yellow Springs Hotel.
Judge William Mills, who had purchased a
large tract of land in 1849, is generally considered the founder of the
present Village through his subsequent platting and selling of lots. He
donated three lots for a church building on South High Street at the corner
of West North College Street. The
building was contracted for $1,400, and much of the labor itself performed
by men of the parish. The name chosen was The Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, but was later changed to St. Paul. The cornerstone was laid on
August 15, 1856. This same year the Village was incorporated. This edifice
still stands, but now put to industrial use. Among the parishioners at the
time were the families of Civil War generals W. S. Rosencrans and E. P.
Scammon.
On August 7, 1864, the completed church was
dedicated by the general's brother Bishop Sylvester H. Rosencrans, Auxiliary
of the Cincinnati Archdiocese and later the first bishop of Columbus. His
family presented to the new parish the oil painting which still hangs in the
church. It is purported to be a copy of Caravaggio’s Madonna of Loreto, the
work of Charles Andre Van Loo (1705-65) who was a pupil of Van Dyke.
The recording of baptisms was begun in 1868
with that of Helen (Ella) Abbey on December 6th.
St. Paul’s was first served by the pastors
of St. Raphael Church in Springfield until autumn 1872, when the Rev. James
A. Burns was assigned as resident pastor. The first parochial residence was
built in 1876. During the pastorate of the Rev. James O’Keefe (1887-1905)
five acres of land were purchased for the parish cemetery, and were
dedicated on October 26, 1892.
The first ordination of a “native son”
occurred on July 26, 1887, in Cincinnati in the person of Daniel Quinn, born
in Yellow Springs in the days of the infant parish. His first Mass was
celebrated in St. Paul Church. He was given the pastoral appointment in
1905, succeeding Fr. O’Keefe. His intervening years following ordination
were spent abroad in the study of Ancient and Modern Greek in Athens, and
later in Berlin, Germany. He served the community spiritually and
intellectually, becoming professor of Greek and Modern languages at
neighboring Antioch College.
In 1856 the Christian Church had built a
church at the corner of Elm and Phillips Streets. It became available and
as parish needs increased, buying this building presented a satisfactory
solution. It was purchased for $2,500, and improved by the addition of two
sacristies, steam heat, main altar (a gift of Father Quinn in memory of his
father, John Quinn), and stained glass in all the main windows. The
pastor’s residence was moved to the new location (on Elm Street), and on
October 25, 1908, the converted church was solemnly blessed by the Dean of
the Dayton Deanery. In 1912 Father Quinn was succeeded by Rev. William J.
Egan (1912-16), during whose service the present Stations of the Cross, the
gift of P.J. Shouvlin of Springfield were installed.
The second native of the parish to receive
Holy Orders was Francis J. Heider, who was ordained on June 14, 1924, in
Cincinnati, and celebrated his first Mass the following day in St. Paul’s.
Always a friend and visitor, he assisted at the many special observances
conducted during the parish’s long life.
Building of the present rectory was begun
July 1, 1929, and was ready for occupancy on March 1, 1930, at a cost of
$16,850. The old rectory was sold and moved to North Winter Street.
The next vocational milestone in parish
history was reached by Florence McCurdy, who professed her final vows in
1938 with the Sisters of Charity and took the name of Sister Jean Andre.
In the following decade Eileen Alexander
answered the call to a spiritual life, joining the Maryknoll Sisters in
1945. She is presently ministering in El Salvador.
In 1955 the undercroft of the church was
remodeled, adding restrooms and a kitchen. One hundred thirty families were
registered in the parish at the time the Centennial Celebration took place
in August 1956, during the pastorate of Rev. Richard Redman. New gold
vestments, the gift of Sister Jean Andre McCurdy in memory of her parents,
were used.
The Archdiocese observed an illustrious year
in 1976 when its first class of permanent deacons were ordained on September
25th. Paul E. Richardson, a member of St. Paul’s since 1967, was
among those ordained, and he has since assisted the pastors and sustained a
steady influence on the spiritual development of fellow parishioners and of
the community.
The growth of parish families was paced by a
steady program of major improvements in church and rectory to maintain or
modernize buildings and equipment, resulting in the functional and
decorative parish structures of which we can be proud today.
In 1959 of a 14-foot limestone cross with
five foot corpus, the gift of the Clayton Powell and Walter Cummings
families, was installed above the entrance door.
In 1959 and 1961, respectively, the
shuttered ground level windows on the front were converted to arched niches
to receive statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of
Mary, and double plate glass doors were installed, with the niche above the
doorway bricked in and the limestone nameplate inserted.
In 1964 a large crucifix was affixed to the
wall behind the central altar, and the Van Loo painting was transferred to
the choir loft. Ten years later the interior received a new Blessed
Sacrament altar, along with several other improvements. The kitchen was
redone, and a small separate chapel was arranged in the undercroft in 1975.
In 1981, the year of the 125th
Anniversary, the church interior, Stations of the Cross, and the undercroft
all received new coats of paint. Unfortunately, the bell had to be removed
from the church belfry because of the weakening of the structure.
The tradition of religious vocations was
carried on by Paul Del Staigers who was ordained June 5, 1987. He currently
teaches homiletics at the Athenaeum of Ohio.
An addition was built on the rear of the
church in 1988 to house an elevator. Its installation was welcomed with joy
by the local funeral directors who until this time had to maneuver the
coffins up the stairways for funeral Masses.
Years and weather had finally weakened the
belfry to the point it had to be removed in 1997. In 1998 the church
exterior was repaired, painted and sealed and the interior again painted.
Today the congregation of St. Paul Catholic
Church numbers 316 families. It remains an important contributor to the
life of Yellow Springs and the surrounding communities.
Resident Pastors of Saint Paul Catholic Church
Yellow
Springs, Ohio
1872-1878 James A. Burns
1878-1885 J. J. Cunningham
1885-1887 Charles Wiederhold
1887-1905 James O’Keefe
1905-1912 Daniel Quinn
1912-1916 William J. Egan
1916-1918 George Steinkamp
1918-1918 Francis J. Siefert
1918-1921 Edward G. Depenbrock
1921-1927 John Schawe
1927-1930 Francis J. Kelly
1930-1933 Eugene Gerlach
1933-1947 John Kelly
1947-1954 John Anthony
1954-1955 James Byrne
1955-1961 Richard Redman
1961-1967 Erwin Bertke
1967-1974 Elmer Greiwe
1974 Carl R. Steinbicker
1974-1975 John Wall
1975-1976 James F. Trick
1976-1982 Thomas Gavin
1982-1991 M. Edmund Hussey
1991-1998 Joseph W. Goetz
1998-2006 Joseph R. Raudabaugh
