This Cleveland Church Has Sat Abandoned For 27 Years
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s history spans back to its initial construction on December 6, 1903. Eventually, the historic Cleveland church we see today would be rebuilt for the growing population. However, we can look back as far as to 1885 for a bit of history prior to its initial construction. This was the time when Slovak immigrants were still arriving in Cleveland. After founding St. Ladislas in 1885, it would see rapid growth with the incoming Slovak population into the surrounding neighborhood.
Many immigrants had found work in the nearby American Steel & Wire Co. plant, among other surrounding foundries and the like. During these years, Cleveland’s industry was still growing rapidly. At this time, immigrants were living 3 or more families to a house, primarily along E. 93rd St.
For some years, families would walk to worship at St. Ladislas. Eventually much of the Slovak population had joined together to petition to establish a Slovak Roman Catholic parish in the Newburgh area. It was difficult at this time due mostly to scarcity of priests who could minister to them in their native tongue. By 1902, they had found and petitioned Cleveland Bishop Ignatius Horstmann to establish the parish.
$2,500 was paid out by founding members of Nativity to establish the parish. During this time, $2,500 was not easy to come by, seeing as most of the members were working 12 hour days for $1.25. Before the construction of the first church, rooms were rented to members to hold mass. These rooms were rented by Dr. Mae Schimkola, a neighborhood physician. Finally, come December 6, 1903 the community had built and consecrated its first church.
Many priests came and went over the first 6-7 years, as most of them lacked fluency in the Slovak language. Finally, the fifth pastor, Rev. Vaclav A. Chaloupka took over leadership in 1909, and would continue to lead the parish for the next 47 years, until his death in 1956. He was succeeded in later years by 7 other pastors.
A school was added to the second floor of the original church building, but with the growing population, they could barely facilitate students. A larger school was constructed, which would also house a community center for Slovaks living in the area.
The school was eventually closed in 1972, and the church’s last resident pastor left in 1984. By 1990, stained glass windows had been removed to furnish another church in Lorain County.
The church closed its doors for good on December 27, 1992 after 90 years of serving the community. Nativity has now sat abandoned for almost 27 years, and has mostly been torn apart over just the last year by vandals.
You can find a very full history of this church HERE
OHIO’S FORGOTTEN HISTORY
This is just one of many places that will be featured in my upcoming book “Ohio’s Forgotten History”
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Nicely written short history lesson with beautiful photos. Thank you for keeping history awareness important.
I am certain it may be relevant for someone and would like to share it if you are alright with it. Please let me know. Thank you again.
Very sad to see such changes. Looks like it was once a very beautiful church.
Awesome story and photos, as always, Johnny. Glad to see your site getting the coverage it deserves, making WordPress Discover again! I plan to reblog on my site, Rust Belt Girl, next week, if that’s OK with you. I know my followers would appreciate getting a glimpse at our beautiful, if sometimes neglected, Northeast Ohio history. Well done!
Thank you Rebecca! That means so much! I’m glad you have been continuing to enjoy what I share. That would be totally awesome if you would like to reblog and I would appreciate that a lot! Also if you would be open to doing any type of collaborative posts on my blog and yours as well, shoot me an email! That could be really awesome. – johnnyjoo@oddworldgallery.com
Thanks, Johnny! Featured on my blog, here: https://rustbeltgirlblog.wordpress.com/ A collaborative post sounds like a great idea! I’d really like that–will email you soon! Thanks again, Rebecca
Thank you so much! 🙂 I love it!
My grandfather and his family were members of this church! As a historian, and someone who grew up in the Cleveland area, of Slovak descent, I love seeing these photos and hearing more about the history of both the church and the neighbourhood. I just hope the church structure is still there when I get back to Cleveland this summer – I would really like to visit the church.
It’s good that least the frescoes survived well. Such a shame for a beautiful place to just waste away like that.
What a beautiful building. Such a shame it is not restored to its former glory and being used. I hope one day it will again, seems a shame not to use it. Thanks for sharing and bringing attention to it.
Great article and photos. We travel to this area often, now I want to look for this beautiful old building. Thank you
So sad that the sacrifice of many now lay in ruins. This is a sobering reminder to cherish what prior generations have worked and fought hard for so that they are not lost.
It’s sad to see beautiful buildings fall into disrepair. Just think of all the lives touched by this church.
Tragic to see what’s happened to that church. It’s really not that old. I assume that it’s in a rough part of town.
A very nice article, concise and with the colorful photos, It’s a reflection of the times we live in right now which is sad. The church must have looked so beautiful then and can compare to the duomos in small provinces in Italy, I’ve visited. A lot of churches have closed because there is no longer support of the community. It’s a reflection of the erosion of spirituality. It’s not what I see in these pictures, it’s how it made me feel. The priest, pastor did not do a good job.
Wow…
I have always been fascinated and curious on the insides of abandoned buildings.
And now I am going to vicariously satiate my curiosity through this blog.
Thank you.