A period of 50 years embraces the greater part of the average human life, and the remembrance of the events at the beginning of such a cycle is sometimes hazy. However, this chronicling will be substantially accurate, for the events have been culled from the diocesan archives, old parish records, and the Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph, or have been told by a few whose clear memories and fond recollections of the sacrifices and inconveniences of those pioneer days, at the beginning of the twentieth century, are yet quite vivid.
For many years, what is now known as Fort Thomas was called The Highlands, probably because its terrain is some 300 feet above the Ohio River. When, by an act of Congress in 1887, a Military Post was to be established in these parts, the necessary ground was acquired and the Army headquarters set up. It was named Fort Thomas in honor of General George Henry Thomas – the “Rock of Chickamauga” in the Civil War. The Post’s buildings were erected over a period of years, and the first soldiers occupied them in 1890. By an act of the legislature in Frankfort in 1912, The Highlands became officially Fort Thomas.
The Catholic families living in this territory in the 1890s probably numbered no more than 25. They attended Mass in Newport, Cold Spring, and John’s Hill, despite poor roads, slow horses, and antiquated vehicles. As the development of the Fort brought more businesses and families to the area, establishing a local church was discussed. In 1894, the Fort Thomas Land Company offered to arrange the donation of four large lots south of Saint Stephen Cemetery (an area later taken for Interstate 275), and on behalf of local Catholic families, the acting chaplain at the Fort, Father John Gleeson, sought the approval of Bishop Camillus Maes. His letter described pledges of $575 towards construction of a church, with more assured. However, the protests of the pastor of Saint Joseph, Cold Spring, who feared the loss of families from his small parish, convinced the Most Reverend Bishop to reject the offer. If a Highlands church were to be built, a more northerly location should be sought.
At some point, local Catholic families began to attend Holy Mass at the Military Post. The March 12, 1896, issue of the Catholic Telegraph reported: “In the course of the last week, a new altar was placed in the school room of the Fort Thomas Catholic School which is used for divine service by the Catholics of the Fort.” The school referred to here was doubtless the private secular school that was conducted of the Post for the children of the army personnel. “The members of the little congregation were charmed with the altar and expressed their willingness to defray the cost and supply the necessary altar requisites. The said altar was used the first time last Sunday. Father Gleeson is the attending priest.” He was also the chaplain at the Convent of the Good Shepherd, an orphanage with spacious grounds on Highland Avenue near the Alexandria Pike. Succeeding Father Gleeson at Good Shepherd and as acting Army chaplain was Father James Huggard, who celebrated Mass for the military and civilian populations in the years 1896 and 1897.
The Spanish-American War broke out in the early spring of 1898, and Army chaplain Father Edward Vattman traveled with the Sixth Infantry to Cuba and then to their headquarters at Fort Thomas. His wonderful personality and extreme kindness to wounded men, irrespective of color or creed, made him a most sought gentleman as an after-dinner speaker and a preacher for special occasions. He, like his predecessors, said Mass at the Post, usually in a little farm house near the corner of River Road and Fort Thomas Avenue. Partitions had been removed to make the house a recreational center, and on Sunday it served as an improvised chapel with a temporary altar. The arranging of linens and decorations was a labor of love by the good ladies of the neighborhood. No pews, few chairs, no cassocks for servers, no communion rail or cloth, and worshipers knelt on the none-too-clean rough floor – a far cry from today’s padded kneelers.
The first public chapel in our midst in which Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was reserved and adored was in Father Vattman’s residence. According to the Catholic Telegraph of August 11, 1898: “The ladies of Fort Thomas and vicinity with characteristic thoughtfulness furnished a beautiful little chapel in Father Vattman’s residence where Mass is daily celebrated. At frequent intervals during the day the brave heroes who unflinchingly faced the dreadful carnage of battle may be seen kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament and returning thanks to Almighty God for the success of the American army.”
Father Vattman’s transfer in January of 1899 left the little band of Catholics without the consolations of Sunday Mass. In response to their appeal, Bishop Maes sent them Father Peter McDonald, who had been chaplain at the Convent of the Good Shepherd since July 1898. He traveled to the Fort each Sunday to celebrate Mass, until being sent West in the summer of 1900 because of illness. This zealous young Levite died two years later.
Father Mathias Leick, on becoming chaplain of the Convent of the Good Shepherd in July 1900, was also given care of the spiritual needs of the little congregation of civilians as well as the Military Post. The Most Reverend Bishop further directed him to canvass the territory, ascertain the number of families, and assess their desire for a church of their own. Their determination to have a church was already evidenced by a number of notices in the Catholic Telegraph for entertainments designed to raise money. While all were convinced of the need, one serious problem divided them: where to locate the church. One group was emphatic that it should be south of the Military Post, while others favored the north. In 1899, the Fort Thomas Land Company again offered lots beyond Saint Stephen Cemetery, which Bishop Maes again declined.
Between March 1900 and March 1901, many letters passed between Leonard J. Crawford, an attorney who lived on Highland Avenue, and Vishop Maes, regarding some real estate on Grand Avenue. The Grand Avenue turnpike was a new road into FNewport that had opened in 1888. Crawford owned property at the foot of what is now Tremont Avenue – at the time a densely wooded hillside – and he offered to donate two lots for the erection of a church. Furthermore, with the help of Edward J. McDermott, a Louisville attorney and former Lieutenant-Governor of Kentucky, he induced the heirs of the adjoining Fitch property to donate two lots, creating a total parcel of 200 by 400 feet.
However, trouble arose when Father Leick’s flock learned of these negotiations. The steep Fitch-Crawford land was far from ideal for a large building, and those with businesses near the Fort or along Alexandria Pike hoped to find a closer site, although the real estate boom had started and prices were rapidly rising.
Late in December 1900, Father Leick called a meeting, where the vote was 18 against and 12 in favor of accepting the Crawford-Fitch donation. Bishop Maes expressed deep regret at this decision, asking why a struggling congregation would rather but its own property, in addition to bearing the cost of construction. However, he gave permission to secure another site, provided that it not be “in the Neighborhood of any part of the notorious Midway,” the area opposite the Fort where, in fact, several Catholic families ran saloons and other businesses.
Father Leick chose a land search committee, balancing aye and nay voters, and they soon found that the only suitable lots were in the Military Park development, for some $2,000. But when the Covington Waterworks refused to grant any private right of way, all Military Park plans halted. Now the Crawford-Fitch lots, which were not far from Military Parkway, were the only alternative. Deeds for the joint gift by these generous non-Catholic donors were sent to the Bishop on March 9, 1902.
In August 1901, Bishop Maes appointed a church building committee to draw up plans for Grand Avenue. The proposed edifice, combining church and school in a two-story brick building, was expected to cost $10,000. Early in April 1902, Father Leick turned the first spade of ground, while members of his congregation knelt in prayer and asked God to bless their undertaking. The work was pushed as rapidly as possible, and on August 3, 1902, the Very Reverend Ferdinand Brossart, Vicar General (in the absence of the Bishop, who was in Europe), laid the cornerstone in the name of St. Thomas the Apostle. Father James Gorey, secretary to the Bishop, preached in English; as was common in those days, a second priest preached in German as well. According to a young curate (Father Herbert Hillenmeyer), upon returning to the Cathedral rectory the Vicar General was heard to groan, “What a place for a church!”
At $6,500 the building cost less than anticipated, but it proved extremely inconvenient. Because Grand Avenue had a broad right of way, new construction had to be set well back from the street. This forced the parish building to be far above the street level, necessitating some fifty steps before one arrived at the second-floor church – a tedious, difficult climb for the aged and infirm.
The building was ready for occupancy for the patron’s feast, December 21, 1902, a happy day for the struggling little congregation. At last they had a church in which Jesus could be offered, received, and adored. Moreover they had tow classrooms for the beginning of a school, to be taught by Sisters of the Congregation of Divine Providence. The dedication and blessing of the building was performed by Most Reverend Camillus P. Maes, the Mass was offered by the pastor, Father Leick, and the sermon was by Father Joseph Benke.
Classes for grades 1 through 6 began in January 1903 under the direction of Sister Mary Balbina Kuter, who came daily from Mount Saint Martin’s the CDP provincial house in Newport. Her companion, Sister Mary Eugenia Marck, the second principal, was responsible for the collection of money with which to purchase a beautiful baptismal font still in use in 1952, one of the few relics of the Grand Avenue church. Father Leick continued his solicitous care of the congregation until 1906, when he was transferred to Corpus Christi, Newport. That September, the addition of an eighth grade made the elementary school complete.
Father Aloysius Roell labored as pastor of Saint Thomas parish for 11 years, traveling for many years by horse and buggy from the Convent of the Good Shepherd and later rooming with a parish family. Everyone recognized that the Grand Avenue building was far from ideal and that future growth would require a change of location. Accordingly, Father Roell and his church committee asked Bishop Maes to approve the purchase of 125 feet facing Fort Thomas Avenue at the corner of East Villa Place, then called Hills Court. A fwooden building there proved useful for lawn fetes, suppers, and other entertainments for money-raising projects. The congregation was steadily growing, and all worked like beavers to increase the parish’s bank account.
In the spring of 1917 Father Martin Delaney succeeded Father Roell, who had been transferred to Sacred Heart Church, Bellevue. The new pastor endeared himself to everyone in the community by his genial disposition. He purchased a house for a rectory at the southeast corner of Fort Thomas Avenue and Villa at a cost of $6,500, but was soon transferred to Saint Stephen.
Father Thomas Coleman, a charming Irishman who arrived in May 1918, was the first occupant of the new rectory. During the ravages of the Spanish Influenza epidemic, which took so many lives throughout the nation and even in his own parish, he endeared himself to many by his kindness to the sick and dying. During his administration, a 60-foot lot was added to the parish holdings on Fort Thomas Avenue. Like his predecessor, Father Coleman served Saint Thomas parish only briefly, being appointed to Paris, Kentucky, in 1919. Before leaving, he let it be known that his successor would be another Irishman, Father “O’Hafen” – a wee exaggeration.
