MARIA STEIN — A historic church in the Miami Valley that was damaged in a fire earlier this year may need to be demolished after high winds knocked down a wall this weekend.
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As recently as last month, parishioners at St. John the Baptist in Maria Stein had meetings about the future of their church building and were still unsure whether they would remodel or rebuild.
Now, after the damage from high winds, several parishioners said they fear they have the answers as to which it’s going to be.
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“This is a structure from the 1800s that has meant a lot to this community through the decades, and it was difficult to see it damaged so badly,” Chris Keller, a St. John the Baptist parishioner, said. “And it’s difficult now to see further damage.”
In a post on the parish family’s Facebook page, the pastor said the wind damage “has compromised the integrity of the remaining structure” and “structural engineers are concerned that the tower could also collapse and fall onto (State Route) 119.”
As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, firefighters and the Ohio Department of Transportation have closed State Route 119 in front of the church for public safety.
The church’s pastor said, right now, they don’t know whether partial demolition is possible or if a full demo is required.
“This is not my decision to make, and other people may have a different opinion, but I think this pretty much seals the case that this is going to be a rebuild,” Keller said.
Edna Bruns, who came to Maria Stein from Troy to see the damage, agreed that the church will likely come down.
“We thought there was hope, but now I kind of don’t think so,” Bruns said.
There may not be hope for the building itself, but there’s plenty of it from the people who make up the church.
“The faith community is more than the actual building,” Keller said. “And that carries on, of course.”
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