Grandview Heights Moment in Time: Dec. 3

ThisWeek group
In 1922, Bishop James Hartley of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus established Our Lady of Victory Parish. The parish was bounded by the two rivers, McKinley Avenue and the northern boundary of the diocese, and it included 65 families. Bishop Hartley (inset, middle) approved the purchase of 4 acres in Marble Cliff at the corner of Roxbury and Cardigan Avenue, which was the property owned by Sylvio Casparis and then the Merkle family. The 20-room home was used to house the parish school and the convent and chapel of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. A second building was used as the rectory for the Rev. Thomas Nolan, the first pastor. By mid-1923 the parish had expanded to 108 families, and a new chapel designed by George McDonald was built. The current rectory and the building for the OLV Academy were built in 1931. The addition to the church in 1957 (inset, left), also designed by McDonald, was an attempt to incorporate the English Gothic architecture that was evident in the rectory. Bishop Michael J. Ready (inset, right) was to dedicate the church in 1957, but he died unexpectedly died a day and a half before the ceremony.