Location Cleveland, Ohio Denomination Roman Catholic Church Former name(s) Trinity Baptist Church | Country United States Previous denomination Baptist Status Parish church | |
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Dedication Transfiguration of Jesus Diocese Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Province Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati Similar St Paul's Episcopal Church, Immaculate Conception Church, St Elizabeth's Magyar R, St Patrick's Catholic Church, Immaculate Heart of Mary Chu | ||
Transfiguration (Polish: Parafia Przemienienia Pańskiego w Cleveland), was a Catholic parish church in Cleveland, Ohio and part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. It was located at the south-west corner of intersection of Broadway Ave. and Fullerton Ave., in a part of the South Broadway neighborhood previously known in Polish as Warszawa, also referred to today as Slavic Village. The church, although it is demolished, the neighborhood, and the larger surroundings are GNIS named features.
Contents
The church was demolished after a structure fire in 1992.
History
Little is reliably known about the previous Baptist occupants of the church. Charles Coulter, in The Poles of Cleveland, described that, for many years Trinity Baptist Church at Lansing Ave. and East 71st St., under Mr. Houser, had been conducting a Polish mission with indifferent success. It was found that Polish Protestants had an especial fondness for their own Polish language, Polish literature, traditions and ideals. They wanted their own chapel and uniquely formal service. On 10 November 1918, a property was purchased at the corner of East 71st St. and Gertrude Ave. and the first Polish Baptist Church was organized with Rev. Pietrowski placed in charge. The life of these people is warmly social as evidenced in the frequent suppers, home gatherings and church-directed picnics in the park. On Saturdays the boys were instructed in the Polish language and the girls were taught to sew. This small church of 60 members was the only distinctly Protestant Polish organization in the city.
In the 1930s, they moved to this, Broadway Ave. and Fullerton Ave., location.
The Roman Catholic parish was established in 1943 after Trinity Baptist Church was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and converted to Transfiguration Church. It is unclear if members of the Baptist congregation became converts to Catholicism. The parish was divided from nearby Immaculate Heart of Mary Church and Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus parishes.
After the 1992 fire, parishioners were eventually merged into nearby Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Stanislaus parishes in 1993. But, a diocesan website shows the parish was closed on 1 January 1992.
Records
The records of this church, and all churches closed after 1975, can be found in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Archives. Diocesan policy is to keep all archive records closed.