Old St. George on Calhoun St. adjacent to the University of Cincinnati
Photo by: Laura Laugle
Sketch of St George before the fire
Scanned image courtesy of University of Cincinnati Libraries, Archives and Rare Books Department
In the 1860s and ‘70s, many German Catholics from Over-the-Rhine moved to Corryville. This emigration drove Franciscan fathers to organize St. George’s Parish in 1868 and build the Calhoun Street church pictured left in 1874. St. George’s was an active and thriving parish through much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, despite the number of other Catholic churches which were built in the area, but by the 1940s the surrounding population became increasingly poor and many parishioners moved out of the area. As the University of Cincinnati continued to expand, the number of homes available to full time residents declined and so too, did membership of St. George’s.
In 1991, St. George’s parish merged with those of St. Monica and Holy Name. The congregations were moved to St. Monica and Old St. George was closed. After the closure St. George was home to a campus ministry which used the facility to host a bookstore and coffee house. Today, the building is owned by Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, which intends to save and repair the old church after a fire in February of 2008 which destroyed much of the upper portion of the church, including the two steeples which once framed the top of the building.
Bibliographical Sources:
The Bicentennial Guide to Greater Cincinnati: A Portrait of Two Hundred Years, by Geoffrey J. Giglierano, Deborah A. Overmeyer, with Frederic L. Propas, The Cincinnati Historical Society, 1988, page 206
