Marietta, Ohio, is a lovely little historic town at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. It was the first settlement west of the Ohio River and has a Catholic history dating to Aug. 16, 1749, when the Jesuit chaplain of a French expedition from Quebec celebrated Mass here.
As the Catholic presence grew, St. Mary’s Church was built in 1853. Then, in 1904, the cornerstone was laid for what was to become today’s Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption.
On Dec. 12, 1909, St. Mary’s was officially consecrated by Bishop James Hartley, who celebrated the first pontifical High Mass in Marietta. The following day, the Marietta Daily Times wrote that the church “is of marvelous beauty, no pains having been spared to make it a place worthy of dedication to the services of God.”
Indeed, Cleveland architect Emile Uhlrich designed the grand church in “cathedral Renaissance style designed to be a combination of Baroque and also more traditional architecture,” according to current rector Father Edward Maxfield Jr. Uhlrich went on to design Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica in Lackawanna, New York.
But long before being named
