In 1839, four German Catholic families arrived in Pomeroy to accept employment in coalmines operated by Pomeroy and Company. Other Catholic families soon joined them. Too small a community to allow the establishment of a permanent church and resident pastor, the early residents were cared for by Father McCaffrey of Marietta. The priest would visit and minister to them about three times a year.
The first concerted effort to get a resident priest in Pomeroy was taken in 1843. The German miners wanted greater religious opportunity for themselves and their families. Father McCaffrey spoke only English while they understood and spoke only German. The 1843 efforts were doomed to failure. While the Pomeroy community was financially able to build a church, they did not feel capable of supporting a resident priest.
In 1849, a group of 46 persons banded together and the church was finally founded. While the exact month or date of the founding of Sacred Heart parish in not known, reliable records indicate that five baptisms were listed by Father Theophile Krapf, pastor.
The original church building served the parish for the next fifty years. The men of the neighborhood had cut the trees from the village hillsides, sawed them into boards and constructed the building on the same site on which the new and larger church was built in 1898.
The cornerstone of the current building was laid on Sunday, May 22, 1898, by the Most Rev. John
Watterson, Bishop of Columbus, with several thousand people present. The sand stone church with its 157 foot spire was completed the following year and dedicated by the Very Rev. Msgr.
Specht. Administrator of the Diocese of Columbus. The entire cost of the new church including new altars, pipe organ, and pews was said to have cost approximately $42,000.00. Records indicate that the people of the town were generous with their time and effort in the construction. Men came from their jobs in the mines and businessmen from their shops to help in the work.
While the interior of the building has undergone a number of changes brought on by changing liturgical needs, there are still a number of items that are believed to be from the 1898 period. The oak pews, choir balcony, wooden altars and stained glass windows are all original. So too is the Barckhoff Organ, which was built by Carl Barckhoff and the Barckhoff Church Organ Company and the American Organ Supply Company of Pomeroy.
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Among the other furnishings that date back to the 1890’s are the canvas paintings of the twelve apostles (Mathias replaced the betrayer Judas). These fragile canvases can be seen in the ceiling vault.
The five wooden candles in the sanctuary area of the church are believed to be from this same period. They were found in the storage area behind the organ. The candlesticks were refinished and used for the first time in many years at the Christmas Mass in 1989.
The Processional Cross was retrieved from a pile of refuse. After effort was made by restorers to repair damage, the cross was refinished and used in the Easter Sunday Liturgies in 1990.
The steeple of the church houses two bells: one is from the original church. The church building materials-stone and wood- used in the present building were from the hills around Pomeroy. The history of the church building of Sacred Heart Parish reflects the deep and strong faith of the people of this area. The magnificence of the structure and the beauty of the interior are lasting signs of a people who were and are aware of the blessings and goodness of God working in their lives. This beautiful church is a lasting reminder of the faith, not only of the Catholic men and women of the Pomeroy area, but also of the many fellow Christian men and women who shared in its construction and gather within it to give praise and thanks to God. |
