Originally established in 1819, the congregation of Archwood United Church of Christ has always called the Brooklyn Center neighborhood home. Services were held in 4 different locations
throughout its first 110 years until the current building – designed by Daniel Farnham in the Colonial Revival style – was dedicated in 1929. The 1970’s saw a decline in community involvement, but the 1980’s brought community efforts for neighborhood revitalization that reinvigorated the church with participation in local citizen groups such as Crossroads Development Corp., the Brooklyn Centre Historical Society, and a hunger center. Today, the church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as a contributing structure to both the Brooklyn Centre National Register Historic District and the Brooklyn Centre Local Landmark District. In 2018, the church continued its community involvement by partnered with the Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center to provide the organization with the space needed to host their programs and events.

Date Lit
8/11/04

St. Paul Shrine, built in 1876 as St. Paul Episcopal Church, was the showpiece of Millionaires’ Row, a boulevard filled with high style Victorian mansions inhabited by Cleveland’s elite. Taking advantage of its prominent location, architect Gordon W. Lloyd of Detroit designed an elaborate Gothic Revival structure of Amherst sandstone with a 120-foot tower. When the Episcopalian congregation relocated to Cleveland Heights in 1928, the Cleveland Catholic Diocese purchased the grand church to serve as the home of the Poor Clare Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. The Diocese built a three-story brick monastery to house the nuns, who have kept, and continue to keep, a prayerful vigil in the church sanctuary behind the screen that separates them from the secular congregation. In October 1931, the church was re-consecrated as the “Church of the Conversion of St. Paul.” Beginning in 1978, the Capuchin Franciscan Friars of the Pennsylvania Province administered the church. In 2009, the church was decommissioned as a parish by Bishop Lennon, but continues to operate as a Shrine for the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, housing the monastery and friary.

Date Lit
12/4/08

An integral part of the history of Cleveland, the First Presbyterian Church – also known as Old Stone Church – was established in 1819 inside a second-floor meeting room of the first log cabin courthouse located on Public Square. The first church was constructed of stone in 1834 and was the first religious building built of masonry in the city. In response to a growing congregation, the original stone church was replaced in 1853 with the current Romanesque Revival-style building designed by Charles Heard and Simeon Porter. A fire in 1884 necessitated an interior remodel of the sanctuary, which was redesigned by architect Charles Schweinfurth to incorporate highly decorative Victorian elements. Tiffany and La Farge stained glass windows were added along with beautiful wood trusses. The Old Stone Church continues its legacy of serving the community as one of the oldest religious institutions in the city and the oldest building to remain on Public Square.

Date Lit
5/82/2009, cont. 3/29/2017

The Disciples of Christ congregation that established Franklin Circle Christian Church has a long history that dates back to the church’s founding in 1842. President James A. Garfield served as a pastor in the early years before the Civil War, in the congregation’s first building, “God’s Barn,” erected in 1848. Designed in the Gothic Revival style by architects Cudell and Richardson in 1874, Franklin Circle Christian Church was completed in 1883 and a Sunday school wing added in 1916. In 1953, the church was struck by a tornado that destroyed the north window and a chimney. Today, the church still serves the needs of the neighborhood and remains one of the oldest, most prominent structures on Franklin Circle.

Date Lit
12/28/12

Located in the Tremont Historic District, this church was constructed in 1909 as the Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church for members of Cleveland’s Rusyn (or Rusin) community. Rusyns are a Slavic ethnic group who come from areas of the Carpathian Mountains that range from east Slovakia, west Ukraine, southeast Poland and the northern tip of Romania. Designed by architect Marion E. Wells, Holy Ghost was the first church on the west side to serve the Byzantine Catholic community. The church remained in operation until 2009, and then served as a cultural center until 2015. After sitting vacant for several years, it was purchased in 2021 and given a new life as an events center in 2022.

Date Lit
5/29/13

This church at the corner of Starkweather and West 14th Street in Tremont was constructed in 1908 as the German Emmanuel Evangelical United Brethren Church. That parish originated in 1865 on
that same site in a wood frame building, at a time when Tremont was known as University Heights. The current yellow brick, Gothic-style structure features large, pointed stained glass windows and
decorative stone detailing throughout the exterior. Services were held primarily in German until after World War I. In 1968, the church was sold to the Cleveland Baptist Temple due to a decline in the German population. In 1994, ownership was transferred to Calvary Pentecostal Church, known to its Puerto Rican congregants as Iglesia Pentecostal El Calvario. The congregation moved to the new location from its
previous home at 4502 Bridge Avenue in Ohio City, where it had been since 1978.

Date Lit
TBD, Spring 2024

In 1853, Immanuel Lutheran originated from Trinity Evangelical Lutheran on West 30th, as a new home for Trinity members in Brooklyn (including what is now Tremont). The resulting congregation was formally organized in 1879 with a new church building dedicated the following year. In 1909, a tornado damaged part of the upper section of the building, and the steeple was replaced. In 1978, construction of nearby Interstate 90 disrupted the water table, damaging the church’s foundation so badly that the resulting renovation cost more than the original construction. Today, the church remains active, with services held regularly in English and German.

Date Lit
9/9/2003

Across West 11th Street from Lincoln Park in Tremont sits Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church, home church for Slovak Catholics in the early part of the twentieth century. The church began in 1915 as an offshoot of St. Wendelin parish in Ohio City, when Slovaks in Tremont objected to crossing the industrial valley to get to church. The parish was renamed Our Lady of Mercy in 1922 and removed its Polish Nationalist affiliation. In 1942, the parish began a door-to-door collection campaign to build a new church for its growing congregation. They raised $50,000 in three years and by 1949, the new church was completed. Modeled after an English country church, the exterior is ‘Tennessee Crab Orchard’ stone, the same material present on the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and St. Malachi, both constructed around the same time. The church was closed by the Diocese of Cleveland in 2010. Today, the building has been repurposed as office space.

Date Lit
8/11/04

The impressive Richardson Romanesque-style Pilgrim Congregational Church was designed by Sidley Badgley in 1893, some 64 years after the congregation first organized. Considered by some to be Badgley’s masterpiece, the church was designed with an “Akron Plan” interior that allowed students in the assembly area adjacent to the sanctuary to participate in services when a screen between the spaces was open, or to concentrate on independent programming when the screen was closed. Inside the sanctuary, the beautiful stained-glass dome was designed by member Elizabeth Parsons, and the 1894 Ferrand-Votey organ is thought to be one of just three that remain working in the United States. This church of firsts is believed to be the first building west of the Cuyahoga river to use electricity. It was also the first to start a kindergarten, a cooking school and a Boy Scout Troop in Cleveland. Pilgrim Congregational was also one of the first churches in the country designed as both a religious institution and community services center. This tradition of serving the spiritual and secular community in Tremont continues today.

Date Lit
9/30/1995, cont. 2/12/2013

The tallest church in Cleveland, St. Michael the Archangel began in 1881 as a German mission church of St. Mary’s on the Flats, the first Catholic church in the city. The current High Victorian Gothic church, with its impressive 232-foot spire, was completed in 1892 by Chicago architect Adolf Druiding, with local sculptor Bernard Shildmacher crafting its three archangel statues. It would be 30 years before another building in Cleveland eclipsed the height of St. Michael. By World War I, English services were introduced and, by World War II, only about 25% of the congregation was German. Today, St. Michael the Archangel continues to offer bilingual services in English and
Spanish, a result of the immigrant Latin American population that brought new life to the church in the 1970s.

Date Lit
12/13/07

In 1978 the congregation of St. Andrew Kim Korean was formed in the basement of an east side Catholic church and formally established a year later. The congregation found a home in a school building belonging to St. Augustine Parish in Tremont and remained there until 1988 when it moved into its current home. This building was designed by James L. Cameron and built in 1917 as the Polish National Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Tremont neighborhood has one of the largest concentrations of churches in a single geographic area because it was home to so many immigrant groups at the turn of the last century. The transition of a Polish church to a Korean church continues this history, as different ethnic groups repurpose sacred spaces for worship in historic buildings, adding to the rich layers of cultural identity in Tremont.

Date Lit
10/10/18

Constructed from 1914-1918, plans for St. Colman Catholic Church were formed by Count Lenore of Rome. Architects E.J. Potter and Edwind Schneider refined those plans to incorporate Classical Revival elements into this church that boasts a large, 2,800-seat sanctuary. An anchor for the Irish neighborhood on the west side beginning as early as 1880, St. Colman served the Irish community through mid-century. As the neighborhood changed and the Irish American population moved out of the urban center, St. Colman remained, directing services to address the new needs of the area. St. Colman opened the first preschool on the west side in 1930 and has since offered services ranging from literacy initiatives to recovery programs. In 2009, the church successfully fought the order from Bishop Lennon to close the parish. In 2010, the chirch welcomed Hungarian-speaking parishioners from the also ordered to close St. Emeric’s. St. Colman is a City of Cleveland Landmark.

Date Lit
11/21/03

When Arabs from western Asia and northern Africa began arriving in Cleveland in the late 19th century, many of them Christians from Lebanon who had heard about the U.S. from Protestant missionaries, they settled primarily in the south side of Tremont, and the Haymarket district (South of what is now Tower City Center). In 1911, a number of Orthodox immigrants established a congregation that eventually became St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church. Shortly after its inception, St. George’s only priest was transferred to another city and the congregation worshipped at St. Elias Byzantine Catholic Church. In 1927, the congregation received a new pastor who held services at a variety of locations, including the billiards room at Gray’s Armory. The next year, they purchased the former Lincoln Park Methodist Episcopal Church on Starkweather and West 14th Street. Soon after the purchase, a fire nearly destroyed the entire building, and church members raised almost $40,000 to rebuild it. Dedicated in 1935, the reborn church was constructed in the Byzantine style with onion-shaped finials at the top of the bell tower, honoring the congregation’s unique cultural heritage.

Date Lit
4/30/04

Many churches in Cleveland were founded by immigrant or ethnic groups defined by nationality. St. Theodosius was less homogenous from the start, catering to a number of ethnicities seeking Eastern Orthodox Catholicism. Formed in 1896, St. Theodosius was the earliest Orthodox Catholic congregation in Cleveland. By 1901, the church ministered to a multi-national group comprised of Rusyns (a Slavic ethnic group who come from multiple countries throughout the Carpathian Mountains), Syrians, Greeks and Russians. The land for the current building was secured by funding from parishioners, and legend has it the Russian Czar Nicholas II donated to the construction of the church. Completed in 1913, the church was designed by Frederick Baird, who used photo references of the Church of Our Saviour in Moscow as inspiration. The central onion dome represents Jesus, surrounded by the 12 cupolas symbolizing the 12 apostles. Stunning fresco paintings by exiled Russian painter Andrej Bicenko and elaborate iconography are found throughout the sanctuary. The Tremont church has become a recognizable icon in Cleveland, made more famous as a location for the 1978 Academy Award-winning film “The Deer Hunter.”

Date Lit
1/11/07

“The mother church of Irish Catholic Cleveland”, St. Patrick’s Church is the second oldest Catholic parish in Cleveland, established in 1853. The original brick structure was constructed in 1854, located immediately behind the current one facing Whitman Avenue. The larger, current church building was designed by Cleveland architect Alfred Green in a Gothic revival style. Due to financial challenges and exponential growth in the parish, the cornerstone was placed in 1871, but the church was not consecrated until 1931. As a result of the construction delays, the base of building and top of the tower are Berea sandstone, while the rest is blue-gray “Sandusky blue limestone.” You can certainly see the difference in the two materials partway up the building. A key component of their ministry from the start, in 1903, St. Patrick's was reportedly the largest elementary parochial school in Ohio, with 1,800 children. The Ursuline sisters taught the parish children and still do so today at what is now the Urban Community School. Over the years, efforts have been made to restore and improve St. Patrick’s, including major work to remove and restore the stained-glass windows.

Date Lit
4/1/02

Constructed in 1881 and filled with intricate ornamentation, alters, statuary and stained-glass windows, St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church is considered by many to hold one of the most beautiful church interiors in the city, attributed to the skilled craftsmen of the German community that founded the church. Founded in 1869 by the German population on the West side of Cleveland, the parish community grew through the next few years and a cornerstone for the new building was laid in 1873. Facing economic depression that year, finances to continue construction were partly raised by parishioners mortgaging their property. The building was finally completed and opened in 1881 and became home to the largest number of German Catholics in Cleveland by the turn of the century. The Gothic-style, Berea sandstone church was designed by architects Cudell and Richardson. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, as much of the German population left the neighborhood, St. Stephen’s made efforts to be inclusive of the new population in Detroit Shoreway by headquartering a Hispanic ministry in 1970. Though, to this day, masses are still held in German the first Sunday of every month.

Date Lit
8/11/04

First organized in 1910 as the Pan-Hellenic Union, Church of the Annunciation was the first organized religious group for Greek Orthodox members. Prior to 1910, members of the Greek Orthodox church worshipped sporadically in community spaces, or sometimes at St. Theodosius. When construction of the Church of the Annunciation was completed in 1919, it was the only Greek Orthodox church in Cleveland and remained so until 1937. The architect for this gold domed, yellow brick building is unknown. 85 icons hand-painted by Father Zografos during his pastorate (1924-28) adorn the interior. Positioned near the I-90 freeway exit in Tremont, the Church of the Annunciation welcomes commuters as an ambassador to a neighborhood filled with historic religious buildings that speak to Cleveland’s immigrant history.

Date Lit
12/12/06

Trinity Cathedral is considered by many to be the most beautiful and sacred landmark in Cleveland. Commissioned in 1890, and completed in 1907, Trinity has long been considered the spiritual, cultural and community focus of downtown Cleveland. Known as the “city’s cathedral,” it continues to serve as a sacred public space for celebration, creativity, conversation, culture and collaboration.
Established in 1816, Trinity is the oldest organized religious body in Cleveland. In 1890, the bishop declared an Episcopal Cathedral be built along what was then Millionaire’s Row. This coincided with the congregations’ decision to move from its home on Superior close to Public Square. Thus, the plans for the Euclid Avenue Cathedral were underway. Cleveland’s leading architect during the late 19th and early 20th Century, Charles F. Schweinfurth, was selected to design the prestigious new Trinity Cathedral at the urging of Samuel
Mather, Cleveland’s wealthiest industrialist and philanthropist. Schweinfurth’s work was distinguished by its impeccable craftsmanship, ornately-carved woodwork and lavishly sculpted stone details. It is documented that Schweinfurth personally carved the stone figures and other details found on a number of his buildings, including some of the altar figures at Trinity Cathedral. The design and construction of Trinity extended over a period of seventeen years. The Cathedral is an architectural achievement of the Perpendicular Gothic style. This form of expression, with its emphasis on soaring vertical lines and substantial windows, along with its English roots, was considered an appropriate symbolic articulation for the Episcopal faith. Trinity Cathedral stands as the glorious embodiment of Schweinfurth’s design abilities, uncompromising standards of craftsmanship and astounding sculptural talent. It is a memorial to his
architectural achievement and stands as a brilliant manifestation of Cleveland’s valiant age.

Date Lit
12/28/07

Constructed in 1873 to serve the large German community that was settling in Ohio City, architects Griese and Weile are thought to have designed the church and its tall entrance tower with inspiration from the New England meeting house, executed in brick on a more dramatic scale. Part of the German Missouri Synod Branch of Lutheranism, this church dates back to 1858, one of many that grew out of its mother church Zion Evangelical. Designated a Cleveland Landmark in 1973, the church has evolved from offering services in German only to adding English, then later dropping the German in favor of Spanish for Latin American residents, and now also Kirundi, an African language spoken by members of the Burundi refugee community on the west side. Since 1969, the church has focused on serving residents of Ohio City who are in need through the influential and mission-driven “Building Hope in the City” organization founded in 2000.

Date Lit
9/29/2003

Incorporated in 1847, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church had several places of worship beginning near Public Square and progressively moving east until the church was constructed in 1903. The building was designed by Paul Matzinger and incorporates both Romanesque and Gothic Revival styles. Formed by German immigrants, the congregation’s services were held exclusively in German until 1881, when English services were introduced. Bilingual worship continued through 1986. Zion Evangelical is considered a “mother church” to five other Lutheran churches of the German Missouri Synod in Cleveland. The church is said to have hosted a Cleveland holiday milestone in that one of the first Christmas trees, complete with lit candles, was brought to a church service on December 24, 1851. This building was designated as a Cleveland Landmark in 1974.

Date Lit
10/21/04

In 1867, a group of 40 German families living in Tremont received permission from the pastor at their Ohio City church to form a new neighborhood parish, the Zion United Church of Christ. A wood frame church was dedicated in 1872, and the current Gothic style building was completed in 1885 on the same site. Services at Zion United Church of Christ were held exclusively in German until 1916. Today, the church has a new use as the San Sofia Apartments, an adaptive reuse project completed in 2020 and preserving many historic elements of the building, including its impressive 175-foot steeple and some stained glass. The congregation remains in existence and continues to hold services from the adjacent former school building. The Zion United Church of Christ building speaks to the cultural heritage of Tremont’s first German immigrants, and is a fine example of the creative reuse of a historic sacred landmark that preserves history while serving the community in a new way.

Date Lit
2/21/06