The congregation of St. Monica Roman Catholic church originally wanted to build a church of their own in the late 1890s, but tension between the Franciscan monks of St. George, who thought that another church would take parishioners away from their own congregation, caused approval to be delayed until 1911, when a compromise was made between the two groups. The monks would serve parishioners from Corryville, while St. Monica would serve parishioners in Fairview and Clifton Heights.
A temporary church was constructed in 1912 and was used until 1927, when architects Edward J. Schulte and Robert Crowe designed an Italian Romanesque style. Murals on the domed interior were provided by German immigrant Carl (or Karl) Zimmerman, and in 1938 the church was designated the new cathedral of the Cincinnati Archdiocese by Archbishop John McNicholas. Some speculate that the decision to pick St. Monica was based solely on its beauty, but in 1951 Archbishop Karl Alter decided that St. Peter in Chains would be renovated and be rededicated as the cathedral for the Cincinnati Archdiocese.
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 236
