Mother of Sorrows Church

Story

Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church is a historic Catholic church at 1500 W. 6th Street in Ashtabula, Ohio, United States. It was built in the 1890s for a newly established parish and has gained both local and federal designation as a historic site.The Mass was first celebrated in Ashtabula Harbor in 1878, during the summer only in the early years; the first place of worship was a grocery store. Out of this gathering, a parish was established in 1890 and dedicated to St. Mary under her title of "Mother of Sorrows". Constructed in 1898 in the Romanesque Revival style of architecture, the church was designed by William P. Ginther, an Akron-based architect who specialized in ecclesiastical architecture. Both the foundation and the walls are sandstone, the roof is asphalt, and glass forms a significant part of the exterior. The church occupies a corner lot, and large gables with massive windows face both streets. A square tower with battlements is placed at the corner facing the intersection; the main entrance is set in the tower's base, and a belfry occupies the top third of the tower.