Holy Trinity Parish
Immigrants and Pioneers
Holy Trinity began when a handful of Bavarian families arrived
at
the docks of Cleveland in 1833. They traveled west into the
woods beyond the Rocky River and found a land full of chestnut
and oak trees. These families built log cabins and cleared some
land to raise crops and livestock. It was in the cabin of the
John Schwartz family that the first Mass in Lorain County was
celebrated on March 21, 1841.
From Log Cabin to Church
The first
church structure of the parish was built in 1844 at the location of the
original cemetery on Jaycox Road. Our parish school began in a cabin near
the church in 1845. By that time, more families began arriving from Bavaria,
Prussia and Alsace-Lorainne.
Our
present church structure at the corner of Detroit and Nagel Roads was built
with 22,000 tons of sandstone from quarries in Dover (Westlake) and Amherst.
Our first Mass in the "new" church was celebrated on Christmas Eve 1902. In
1924, our church and rectory were ravaged by a tornado that had swept off
Lake Erie on the west side of Lorain and continued its destruction through
downtown Lorain and Sheffield Village. The roof of the church and the
stained glass windows in the nave were destroyed, but miraculously damage
stopped at the communion rail. Soon afterward, Holy Trinity built a hall
which served as a place of worship until repairs to the church were
completed. Since then it has been used for Bingo but it now gives way to the
continuing expansion of our school.