St. Thomas Aquinas Church (Zanesville, Ohio)

St. Thomas Aquinas Church is a historic church at 130 N. 5th Street in Zanesville, Ohio. It was built in 1842 and added to the National Register in 1980. The parish was under the care of the Order of Preachers until August 2017. The parish is now staffed by the clergy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus.

St. Thomas Aquinas Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	130 N. 5th St., Zanesville, Ohio
Coordinates	39°56′35″N 82°0′24″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1842
Architect	Keely, Patrick; Grinsley, William
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.	80003199[1]
Added to NRHP	March 11, 1980

History

In the spring of 1819, Fr. Nicholas Young celebrated the first private Mass in Zanesville in the upstairs at the Green Tree Tavern owned by John Dugan. In November 1820, Dugan purchased a brick warehouse for public Masses, renaming it Trinity Church. When the parish outgrew the converted warehouse, Dugan purchased the lot on which St. Thomas Church is now constructed. To be named St. John Church, the cruciform building’s cornerstone was laid on March 4, 1825. Dugan died in Maryland while escorting Bishop Edward Fenwick, Fr. Young, and Fr. Gabriel Richard. His grave under St. Thomas Aquinas Church is marked with a cross on the floor. During the 1840s, the congregation outgrew St. John Church and needed a new building. Zanesville’s Protestant community contributed funding; local Quaker, John Howard, donated stone from his property. St. John Church was demolished and the cornerstone for St. Thomas Aquinas Church was laid on March 17, 1842. Construction costs for the English Gothic structure was $40,000. The first Mass was celebrated on Christmas 1842. On June 16, 1912, a tornado collapsed the church steeple into the nave during morning Mass, killing three people and injuring twenty-eight. The next year, the Muskingum River flooded, further damaging the church. The parish raised approximately $25,000 to repair the building. The parish ordered new pictorial stained glass windows from Joseph Osterrath of Liège, Belgium in 1914, but order fulfillment was delayed until after the end of World War I.

[2]

Indefinite Closure

Structural engineers inspected the church attic on February 26, 2020 and discovered cracks in the wood trusses. As a result, the Mid-East Ohio Building Department condemned the building until repairs could be made.[3] The parish adopted a plan to prevent further damage via shoring, repair the damaged timbers using steel structural channels, and make necessary cosmetic repairs. After starting the project on April 6, the work crew discovered asbestos fiberboard insulation which was likely installed in the 1920s or 1930s. The requisite asbestos removal delayed the shoring effort until at least May 1.[4]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "St. Thomas Aquinas has long history".
3. "St. Thomas deemed unsafe, condemned".
4. "Roof Repair Project Update".