St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church

In the early 1800s, Kentucky was a destination for recent immigrants to the United States and the area around Louisville and the western portions of the state saw an influx of Catholic immigrants. By 1856, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad had started construction on the L&N Railroad Bridge in Bowling Green. The increase of Catholic immigrants led the Bishop of Louisville to appoint Reverend Joseph DeVries as pastor to the Bowling Green territory in 1858. Reverend DeVries ministered to more than a thousand Catholics in the area, chiefly Irish laborers on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. DeVries was quick to make friends with the locals, which led Mr. Euclid Covington, a non-Catholic, to donate this land to build a church. The church started as a small wooden building built in the summer of 1859 until a brick church was completed. Services were held for the first time on Easter Sunday 1860, though the church wasn’t finished and dedicated until 1862.

After the Civil War, the community around Bowling Green continued to grow. A larger church was needed, so in 1871, the back-wall was torn down to allow expansion of the original church. The additions to the church were designed and built by the architect and builder of the first church, Mr. Frank Kister. Mr. Kister, a graduate of the University of Heidelberg, designed the church as a replica of Cologne Cathedral, and further enlargement of the body of the church completed the design. The work of building a larger church was accomplished by Kister’s son, Frank Kister Jr. While working on the spire, Kister Jr. fell 65 feet when scaffolding broke, breaking both arms and both legs. The interior was finished in 1887 and the building was rededicated until May 1, 1889. Three months later, on August 10, 1889, Father DeVries died suddenly. His body was interred in a vault to the side of the church's altar, with a marble slab marking his resting place.

Kentucky SP St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, National Archives Catalogue. Accessed December 16th 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123852031.

St. Joseph Catholic Church, St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Accessed December 16th 2020. https://www.stjosephbg.org/history.