A Tale of Three Churches - Lorrie Halblaub

Marblehead has not one, not two, but three different Catholic Churches: St. Joseph Roman Catholic, St. Mary Byzantine Greek Catholic, and Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Catholic.

Why would people want three separate churches, all within walking distance? Because each one represented HOME to the many immigrants that came to Marblehead to work in the quarry. Having a place to worship THEIR religion was very important to them.

St. Joseph began when the first Roman Catholics came to the Marblehead Peninsula in 1842. In those early years, travelling priests said Masses in various parishioners’ log cabins. As the congregation grew, three churches were built, one after the other. Each church larger than the last. The first was located on the south side of Main Street, across from Biro Manufacturing Co. That church no longer exists. The second church was a wooden structure that stood where the current church is, on Barclay Street. In 1917, the wooden church was moved one street north, and the current Gothic style stone church was built.

St. Mary Byzantine got its start on Kelleys Island. Due to the number of immigrants needed to work in the quarry, the population of Kelleys Island was a whopping 2,000 people by 1892. Many of them were Greek Catholic. And in 1892, they persuaded the quarry to provide land so that they could build St. Michael Slovak United Greek Church on the west side of Division Street. Five years later, their priest, Father Sabov, began to serve quarry workers who had moved to Marblehead. He founded St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Parish. He served two churches, one on Kelleys and one in Marblehead. In 1899, the Marblehead parish purchased the old Freewilll Baptist Church on Hill Street (now Alexander Pike) from the Congregationalists. By 1904, the parishioners sold their Hill Street building and built a wooden church on Main Street. Then in 1976, they built a beautiful new church near the Marblehead Lighthouse. The wooden church building was torn down in 1986.

Holy Assumption was founded in 1898. It is the second oldest church of its kind in Ohio. For a while some of the Russian Orthodox attended church on Hill Street, with the Byzantine Catholics. When the Orthodox Catholics were finally able to build their own church, the parishioners dug the foundation by hand. In 1906, Bishop Tikhon blessed the cornerstone, consecrated the temple, and conducted the first service. Russia’s last Czar, Nicholas II, gifted the little church with four icons and a gold ewer and pitcher set.

Each of these Marblehead churches continues today. They are beautiful inside and out, with unique traits that reflect their history. They are a testament to the strength and dedication of the loyal worshipers who built them.