{"nrhp_refnum":"86000035","name":"Sacred Heart of Jesus Churches","other_names":["Bethlehem Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"OH 61","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bethlehem","county":"Richland County","state":"OH","lat":40.83787601300003,"lon":-82.72250123799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-01-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Two Roman Catholic church buildings on State Route 61 in Bethlehem, Sharon Township, Richland County, Ohio: a brick church built in 1853 and a stone Victorian Gothic church dedicated in 1895, designed by William P. Ginter of Akron.","why_significant":"The churches are significant for their ties to early settlement and to the religious history of Richland County, where Sacred Heart was one of the earliest Roman Catholic parishes. The 1853 brick church is a rare pre-Civil War local example combining Greek Revival and Gothic Revival elements. The 1895 church was praised as the finest country church in the Cleveland diocese.","narrative":"Two churches stand near each other on State Route 61 in the rural settlement of Bethlehem, six miles southeast of Shelby in Richland County, Ohio. The older, built in 1853, is a brick building that blends Greek Revival proportions and cornice with Gothic Revival pointed arches, lancet windows and buttresses. It was unusually large for the area, where most churches were small frame buildings, and it served as church, school and hall. It is now unused and in poor repair. The newer church, dedicated in 1895, is a cruciform Victorian Gothic building of Berea cut stone designed by Akron architect William P. Ginter, with a 150-foot tower visible across the flat countryside. It remains in use. Together they record a parish begun in the early 1830s that became one of the first Roman Catholic congregations in the county and served missions in several nearby towns. They were listed for their history and architecture.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"William P. Ginter (1895 church)","architectural_style":"Victorian Gothic (1895 church); combined Greek Revival and Gothic Revival (1853 church)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The 1895 stone church is still in use by the parish; the 1853 brick church is unused, in poor repair, with its tower and steeple removed and some windows boarded over.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.781615-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/86000035.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000035/b0ac8086fa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000035/b0ac8086fa-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"User:OHWiki","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus_Churches.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:OHWiki</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus_Churches.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991140","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus_Church_(Bethlehem,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7397279"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/richland-county/sacred-heart-of-jesus-churches-86000035/"}