Though she wasn't Catholic, Evanston resident Marye Ward went to school at St. Mark Catholic School before the school, and ultimately the church, closed. She says it made a lasting impression on her. She likens the now-vacant building to a long-standing community member — one who stood sentinel over the neighborhood as I-71 came through and the community changed.
Efforts to save the church building got a boost last week when the state of Ohio announced its latest round of historic preservation tax credits. St. Mark's will get $2 million toward the estimated $22 million cost to revitalize it.
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St. Mark's was completed in 1916 for a growing neighborhood of mostly Polish and German Catholic families. Its sanctuary is big enough for more than 800 people — a good thing, since its congregation peaked at more than 1,000 families in the 1950s.
Demographic changes came to Evanston and the parish after that high water mark. White residents began moving out as Black residents, some pushed to Evanston by highway construction in the West End, began coming in the 1960s. I-71 tore through the neighborhood right next to St. Mark in the early 1970s, further chipping away at the church's congregation and leveling numerous homes directly to its north.
Despite the changes, the church still served as a vibrant cornerstone of the community, according to residents like Ward.
By 2010, however, the parish had gotten so small the Cincinnati Archdiocese merged it with three others now located in Bond Hill.
St. Mark's housed a food pantry until 2017, then eventually fell vacant entirely. This recent state grant could be a step toward reversing that. Community members say they'd like to see the building become an event space and community center.
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Three other projects in Evanston will also get state tax credits. Those include $250,000 for an effort to rehabilitate 10 apartments and a storefront on Brewster Avenue; $250,000 to restore six apartments at the Hollenbeck Building on Montgomery Road; and another $250,000 to rehabilitate 10 apartments at a former Cincinnati Public Library branch on Montgomery.
Projects in Over-the-Rhine, Pendleton, Avondale, Middletown and Hamilton round out the state's creditsin Southwest Ohio. In total, the state awarded almost $51 million in historic preservation tax credits.
In a 2021 Cincinnati Edition interview, Ward said she hopes the building can become a gathering place again soon.
"St. Mark's is our friend," she said. "It's someone that we feel attached to. It's a shame that he's sitting there and we've left him alone. He needs to be revitalized and opened back up, because he still has many, many more years to give us."