Historic Churches

Historic Churches. . , In or near the Main Street Historic District, which was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, there are several church buildings of historical and architectural significance, representing a variety of religious denominations. Some have housed the same denomination since the beginning, some have passed from one congregation to another, and some have been repurposed for secular use. The churches and former churches depicted and described below are all within a few blocks of Wooster Green, where you are now standing., 1 First Presbyterian Church , Just to the south of Wooster Green, the current church (above right, circa 1970) was built in 1922 to replace the earlier brick church (above left), which burned down in 1919. The older church, built in 1889 to replace a frame structure of 1860, was designed by the Columbus firm Yost and Packard, the architects of the Wood County Courthouse. The sanctuary of the present church features Gothic revival stained glass windows by the famed Arts and Crafts artist Henry F. Keck of Syracuse, NY, and a pipe organ built by John Leek of Oberlin, OH., 2 St. John'S Episcopal Church , The church at 207 N. Grove St.; one block north of Wooster Green, was built in 1916, as St. John's Episcopal Church. By 1935 it "was the Church of the Nazarene (left), a name still visible on the northeast cornerstone. In 1974 it was converted into a house, and has remained a private" residence since then (below)., 3 First Baptist Church , The oldest standing church in Bowling Green, the frame structure at 115 E. Oak St, was built in 1880 as the First Baptist Church (above). It survived the great fires of 1887 and 1888. The First Baptist Church occupied the building until 1969. After a short time as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it housed the Plan Do and Talk preschool from 1974 to 2016. In 2019, the Black Swamp Players moved in, eventually purchasing the building and remodeling it for use as a theater., 4 Gospel Tabernacle , Built in 1915, this block-construction church at 123 E. Court St, two and a half blocks northeast of Wooster Green, was the Gospel Tabernacle Christian Missionary Alliance until the mid-1960s, when it became the Unitarian-Universalst Fellowship Holl (left) In the late 1960s, a draft (Selective Service) information center was also located here. After 1975, the building and its two-story rear extension have housed a beauty salon, real-estate agencies, an insurance agency a driving school, apartment rentals, Restoration Ministries, Christ Community Church, the Word of Truth Christion Center, the American Civil War Museum of Ohio and the Brookside Evangelical Free Church., 5 St. Aloysius Catholic Church , Four blocks southeast of Wooster Green, at the corner of S. Summit St. and Clough St, stands the Catholic parish church St. Aloysius. The present church (above right) was dedicated in 1926, replacing the original red-brick church from 1881 (above left), which was largely built by volunteer labor as the Catholic population of the area increased. Volunteers' names were placed in a hat to decide the patron saint of the new church. Aloysius Pfeiffer's name was drown, and the church was named after St. Aloysius of Gonzaga. St. Al's, as it is affectionately known, houses a mechanical organ built in 1998 by the Québec firm Letourneau. In 2014, the brilliant 1930s mural by Felix Lieftuchter of Cincinnati, depicting Christ, angels and saints, was uncovered from under five coats of paint., 6 Church of Christ , At the corner of S. Main St. and W. Washington Ave., one block southeast of the Wooster Green, is the massive edifice of the former Church of Christ, built in 1890 (above left), at the height of the Oil Boom. From the late 1940s to the late 1960s, the building was occupied by the First Christian Church, and in 1971 it became Christ the Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church (above right). In the 1990s it was King's Way Christian Church, and later Christ's Church in Bowling Green and the Downtown Venue of the H2O Church.