ORIGNS
The original church was built in 1888 for a German-speaking congregation at a cost of $18,000. The first Mass was offered on Christmas day by Father John B. Frohmiller. Our Lady of the Rosary School opened the following year with just two classrooms. The wooden Stations of the Cross and statuary were purchased in 1896 and are still used in the church today.

An 1899 addition expanded the church seating by a third and enlarged the school to eight classrooms. The first Sisters of Notre Dame arrived in 1890.

1903

Brothers of Mary arrive to manage education for boys; they leave in 1958 to teach in high schools. St. Adalbert Parish, created for the territory’s Polish-speaking families, was originally part of OLR.

1911

Holy Cross church, created for the territory’s Lithuanian Catholics, was originally part of OLR.

1913

Our Lady of the Rosary is the only parish in North Dayton higher than the devastating 1913 flood. So many people shelter in the church and rectory that Archbishop Moeller sends $6,000 for food and other aid.

1914

Architect W.L. Jaeckle designs the new church and directs its construction in a Romanesque Revival style. One exterior feature is a bell tower inspired by the campanile of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Another is a flat, red brick facade dominated by a rose window over a portico. The portico features six columns and seven arched entrances that cover three sets of recessed double doors.

1918

New church building opens with a Pennsylvania church’s altar replacing the one lost at sea. Its interior features painted barrel vaults, a mural depicting Our Lady of the Rosary in the apse, two banks of stained glass windows, faux marble pillars, and ornate carved wood and marble.

1928

Current high altar unveiled, featuring a 33-foot baldacchino, cream marble steps with an inlaid predella of gray and yellow geometric design, the letters IHS (for Jesus’ name), the Greek letters alpha and omega (a symbol of God’s endless majesty), and the relics of saints.

1930

Christmas Day fire damages the organ brought from the original church, but a Baroque-style organ from the Wangerin Organ Co. in Milwaukee is installed in 1931, with a fire shield that partially blocks the rose window.

1948

Queen of Martyrs founded for the Northridge area, originally OLR territory.

1957

St. Christopher Parish created from three small parishes originally in OLR territory.

1960

St. Peter founded in Huber Heights, originally part of OLR territory.

$6.20 | The first recorded donation for the original 1888 church, from a boy who contributed all his savings. (About $195.00 in today’s economy)

1 Perpetual Adoration Chapel, created from the baptistry in 2019

3 Relics of saints were sealed in the high altar by (then) Msgr. Henry Moeller at its 1928 consecration.

“What most people who are used to ‘big-box’ styles of churches notice right away is the altar—how grand it is— and the expanse and highness of the building. One person entered, stopped, and said, ‘Whoa, this is way close to God here!’” —long-time parishioner Rick Jobe

“When the high altar was lost, a church in Pennsylvania that was remodeling heard about it and offered their altar. It was a plain, white Carrera marble, in a craftsman style, so local workers and craftsmen worked to decorate it to match the rest.” —long-time parishioner Rick Jobe

This article appeared in the July 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.