Holy Trinity Parish

Immigrants & 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.