History

Most of the heads of the families who founded St. Joseph in what was then Pleasant Valley, Ohio, were, like their patron, humble workmen. Most of them probably arrived on the railroad which connected Pleasant Valley with Columbus to the southeast and, to the west, Urbana and other county seats. The railroad and the men’s status as laborers, however, also made it easy for them to depart. Out of the nearly 80 adult males who appear as part of the congregation between its founding in 1864 and the year 1870, no more than half appear to have been present at any one time.

Only six Catholic households are known to have existed in the Pleasant Valley area in 1860. Pleasant Valley was a station visited occasionally by the priests from St. Patrick Church in Columbus as early as 1861. Priests also traveled by horseback and horse-and-buggy from London and West Jefferson. The congregation was organized in the spring of 1864 by Rev. Edward Fitzgerald, the pastor of St. Patrick. On April 1, $300 was paid as a down payment on two lots, numbers 89 and 90, which were placed in Father Fitzgerald’s name. They were the sixth and seventh lots east of Church Street and fourth south of Main Street, on the north side of what is now Jackson Street. A one-story frame house, facing south, was built and soon converted for use as a church.

In 1869, St. Joseph was the hub of a wide mission area, including Marysville and Milford Center in Union County and Woodstock, Mechanicsburg, and St. Paris in Champaign County. It was not until 1904 that Plain City was given canonical status and Rev. Herman N. Santer took up residence, with missions in Milford Center and Woodstock.

Father Martin A. Heintz came to the community on Christmas day in 1898. He saw the great need of a church building and on his second trip to town, January 16, 1899, the congregation held their first meeting and decided to build. There were 26 families in St. Joseph (Union) in 1899 when the lot at 140 West Avenue was purchased for $375. On August 21, 1899, the first ground was broken, with appropriate ground-breaking ceremonies.

In the corner stone was placed an old coin, a copy of the town paper, a history of the church and one of the brick books that had been sold by the ladies. The box was sealed and cemented and placed in a cavity in the southwest corner of the foundation wall. The church was to be forty by eighty feet when finished and built in Roman style brick.

The new church was dedicated on Tuesday, August 28, 1900. When completed, the new church had cost $9,000, and of this only $800 was still owed. The parish minutes of the time indicate that a good portion of the funds needed were raised through lawn fetes, ice cream socials, bazaars, dinners, picnics, and “sales” at parishioners’ homes.

The newspaper account of the time mentioned the trials and tribulations of the congregation in building the church. For example, at one time, by laborious saving, they had $1,800 in the bank, only to lose it when the bank failed.

The church in Plain City is still in use, although it has been modified inside and out: inside by the requirements of the liturgical changes of the last seventy-five years, and outside by a severe storm on the evening of July 12, 1966, which toppled the steeple. In 1958, the basement was excavated under the entire structure for a meeting hall, kitchen, and other necessary facilities.

The Pastors of Saint Joseph

Fr. Edward Fitzgerald: Feb. 29, 1864–1867
Fr. Francis C. Mallon: 1867–1868
Fr. F. McMelon: 1868–1869
Fr. N. A. Gallagher: 1869 (4 months)
Fr. Matthew F. McGrath: 1869–1870
Fr. Henry Kiffmeyer: 1871–1873
Fr. Benedict Mathias Mueller: 1873–1898
Fr. Martin A. Heintz: 1898–1905
Fr. Herman H. Senten: 1905–1906
Fr. S. J. Kreuzkamp: 1906–1907
Fr. Lawrence L. Demming: 1907–1908
Fr. Frederick Prieshoff: 1909
Fr. George F. Hickey & Fr. Ralph J. Markham: 1910
Fr. George F. Hickey & Fr. John McGlinchey: 1911–1912
Fr. George F. Hickey & Fr. John Lampe: 1912–1913
Fr. George F. Hickey & Fr. William John Patrick O’Connor: 1914–1917
Fr. David Powers: 1917–1924
Fr. William J. Leaver: 1924–1949
Fr. William J. Meyer: 1949–1953
Fr. Robert Roster: 1953–1956
Fr. Robert J. Beckman: 1956–1958
Fr. Karl A. Wuest: 1958–1970
Fr. Fred Falce: 1971 (8 months)
Fr. Richard P. Baird: 1971–1972
Fr. Richard Dirksen: 1972 (1 month)
Fr. Robert Roster: 1972–1973
Fr. Karl A. Wuest: 1974–1977
Fr. Edward Healey: 1977 (14 days)
Fr. Stephen Metzger: 1977–1981
Fr. Raymond J. Carter: 1981–1985
Fr. Homer D. Blubaugh: 1985–1987
Fr. Charles F. Klinger: 1987–1991
Fr. Kevin F. Lutz: 1991–1997
Fr. Patrick A. Toner: 1997–2015
Fr. Joseph J. Trapp, Jr. 2015–Present

Special thanks to Joe Hofbauer, Fr. Kevin Lutz, Deacon Anthony Bonacci and the Plain City Historical Society for the history used here.

Original postcard can be viewed at the Plain City Library. (From the collection of Aggie Hall)

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