St. Mark's Catholic Church

History

Plans for the building date back to 1904, when the Missionaries of the Precious Blood expressed an interest in building a church in the community of Evanston, which was a new middle class suburb of Cincinnati that was home to over 100 Polish and German Catholic families. In 1905, St. Mark’s parish received permission from the Cincinnati Archdiocese to be established. Services were initially held at the residence of Mary Klinckhamer, whose husband was the co-owner of Niehaus & Klinckhamer Park Brewery in downtown Cincinnati. Mary Klinckhamer eventually donated land upon which the new parish would be built. Initially, a temporary frame building for a church and school was erected in 1906, and a convent for the Sisters of the Precious Blood was built in 1909.

The parish soon sought to hire Henry Schlacks, an architect well-known for designing Catholic Churches in Chicago, to design the permanent church building. Schlacks was the founder of Notre Dame University’s Architecture School, and had designed Xavier University’s original campus buildings as well as other Cincinnati landmarks. Schlacks enlisted the assistance of the popular local early 20th century firm, Joseph G. Steinkamp & Brothers, as associate architect. Construction of the main building occurred from 1914 to 1916 at a cost of $150,000. 

St. Mark's reached the height of its congregation in the 1950’s, when over 1,500 families worshipped regularly within its doors. Meanwhile the Great Migration, which was a widespread pattern of migration by ex-sharecroppers from the rural south to northern U.S. cities from 1916-1970, was underway, bringing many African American families into the city of Cincinnati. This demographic shift, combined with the newly-built Interstate-71 highway, triggered a phenomenon known as “white flight,” in which middle class majority-white families moved out of the city and into the suburbs. The construction of I-71 in 1972 itself razed hundreds of homes adjacent to the church, and St. Mark's was left with a small, yet vibrant, majority-African American parish by the late 20th century. 

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati found it increasingly difficult to properly staff the parish and maintain the aging building of St. Mark’s. The St. Mark's Catholic school closed in 2002, leaving its 95 students to find education elsewhere, although the school building was leased to a charter school called National Heritage Academies in 2004. In 2008, the Archdiocese decided to merge the parish with St. Agnes church, which had a newer building and a capacity of 350 people. In 2010, two other parishes were combined into the St. Agnes parish, forming the Church of the Resurrection and constituting 550 worshippers. On July 25, 2010, St. Mark’s held its final service to its predominantly African American parish. The building continued to serve as a food pantry and soup kitchen for years afterward.

Several organizations have expressed an interest in acquiring and rehabilitating the church since it ceased to be a place of worship in 2010. One such organization was a group of Catholic worshippers who practiced the Latin Mass, based on the traditional Latin liturgy, which has been practiced in Cincinnati since 1988 at various different churches. With the Archdiocese’s blessing, a campaign came together to restore the church as a permanent home for the Latin Mass. The community, advised by professional architects, undertook a thorough inspection of the property and prepared a budget and proposal for acquisition and restoration. Estimating the project to cost $2 million, the plan was eventually abandoned.

In November of 2020, the Evanston Community Council announced their intention to acquire the building as a cultural recreation center, forming part of their 10-year plan to create more activities for the neighborhood’s diverse young families. They intend for the space to be used as artist studios, performance space, for family and child-oriented programming, as well as for office space for community organizations. As of May 2020, the Evanston Community Council has embarked on an effort to raise the first $100,000 needed to stabilize the building. 

Architecture

St. Mark's church was designed by Henry Schlacks after the Roman Basilica church style, exemplified by one of the oldest churches in Rome, Santa Maria in Trastevere (circa 4th century AD). The building features an exterior of terra cotta colored to match that of Roman limestone, tile roofing imported from Rome, and a 130 foot campanile. The interior of the building features marble altars, as well as bas-relief statues, murals, and German-crafted stain-glass windows depicting Christ, the 12 apostles, and several Catholic saints. The church could seat up to 850 people, with an additional 150 person capacity in the choir gallery and votive chapels. Additions were made throughout the 20th century—the adjacent school building was rebuilt in 1923 after a fire destroyed the original building, a large pipe organ built by Kilgen was installed in 1933, and a bowling alley (later removed) and youth club were added in the 1940s. A rectory, which was built in 1950, was added to house the Previous Blood Fathers, but was demolished in 2018.

The Evanston Community Council has shown its commitment to honoring the historical and architectural integrity of the building as it carries out its project of rehabilitation. They have enlisted the support and counsel of several preservationists and architects to advise their project of restoring the building, and have assisted in nominating the property to the National Register of Historic Places.

Carrie Rhodus contributed to this article.

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