Built 1882 Opened 1882 Added to NRHP 12 December 1977 | NRHP Reference # 77000042 Phone +1 262-284-5771 | |
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Location 430 N. Johnson St.
Port Washington, Wisconsin Address 446 Johnson St, Port Washington, WI 53074, USA Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Similar St Patrick's Roman Catholic, St John the Baptist Catholic, Saints Peter and Paul Rom, Archdiocesan Marian Shrine, St Hedwig's | ||
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church is located in Port Washington, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 for its architectural and religious significance.
The first Catholic Mass in Port Washington was read in Franz Gengler's home in 1847. In 1849 the growing parish built a tiny wooden church on "Lighthouse Hill." Since then the hill has also been called "Church Hill." In 1860 they built a larger stone church. By 1881 the parish had grown to 250 families, and they built the current church.
Henry Messmer of Milwaukee designed the new church building in Gothic Revival style, with walls of random ashlar limestone quarried three miles north of the building. A large tower is in the front center, with the main entrance at its base and a rose window above it. The square tower rises to an octagonal spire topped with various crosses. The building is decorated with wall buttresses, corbels, and corner parapets. Some parts of the exterior are trimmed in light-colored marble.
The inside is decorated with tall double lancet stained glass windows. An ornate high altar was built by E. Hackner and Son of La Crosse in 1912. The apse behind it is decorated with pastels and gold leaf.
In 1884 at the new church's dedication, a speaker described the building as "a splendid structure, an ornament not only to the city, but the entire state." Today the building, on its prominent hill, is still a focal point of the downtown.