{"nrhp_refnum":"91001582","name":"Holy Cross Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church","other_names":["Holy Cross Parish"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1924 Leo St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dayton","county":"Montgomery County","state":"OH","lat":39.78161017600007,"lon":-84.16772538799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-11-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Religion","Other-Ethnic","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Lithuanian Roman Catholic church at 1924 Leo Street in Dayton, Ohio, built 1912-1915 and remodeled in 1963-65 with Lithuanian folk motifs. It also has a Shrine of the Three Crosses added in 1965.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is one of five ethnic parishes in Dayton documenting the immigration of Eastern Europeans between 1885 and 1915. Its remodeling in Lithuanian folk style is cited as evidence of cultural persistence past the first immigrant generation. It is also noted as one of only three Lithuanian parishes in Ohio and the only one in southern Ohio.","narrative":"Holy Cross Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church, at 1924 Leo Street in Dayton, is a brick gable-front church built between 1912 and 1915 to designs by William Jaekle. Lithuanian immigrants who settled in North Dayton and worked in nearby factories organized to found their own parish, which was officially established in 1914. In 1963-64 the building was remodeled by Chicago architect John Mulokas, who added polychromatic brickwork, engraved glass doors and a bell tower with Lithuanian designs. Inside, stained glass shows a panorama of crosses based on Lithuanian roadside and hillside crosses, and the altars honor Our Lady of the Gates of Dawn and St. Casimir. A Shrine of the Three Crosses was added in 1965 to honor martyrs for the faith. The nomination presents the church as a record of ethnic identity lasting beyond the first immigrant generation. It is one of only three Lithuanian parishes in Ohio and remains an active center of Lithuanian culture.","period_of_significance":"1965","architect_builder":"William Jaekle (1912-1915); John Mulokas (1963-1964); contractor Valerian Sodeika","architectural_style":"OTHER/Lithuanian ethnic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in use as a parish church with about 250 parishioners and one Lithuanian-language mass each week; the form describes its future as uncertain.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.339965-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/91001582.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001582/70c23215ef-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001582/70c23215ef-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Wdzinc","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holy_Cross_Lithuanian_Roman_Catholic_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Wdzinc</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holy_Cross_Lithuanian_Roman_Catholic_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71985945","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Cross_Lithuanian_Roman_Catholic_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5885275"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/montgomery-county/holy-cross-lithuanian-roman-catholic-church-91001582/"}