Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist

The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist is a historic Roman Catholic church building located at 1007 Superior Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. Completed and consecrated in 1852, it is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. Numerous renovations have changed some aspects of the cathedral, but it remains essentially the same since its construction.HistoryLarge numbers of Catholics started to arrive in the Western Reserve region of Ohio in the 1830s and were served by visiting priests sent north by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. A small group of Irish settlers established St. Mary's of the Flats in 1826. The congregation met in several locations before beginning construction on its own sanctuary in 1837. When Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Cleveland in 1847, he named Louis Amadeus Rappe as its first bishop.Bishop Rappe established St. John's Cathedral on Superior Street and Erie Street (today's East 9th Street) on land purchased in 1845 by St. Mary's pastor Rev. Peter McLaughlin. He selected architect Patrick Keely, who designed the building in an ornamental gothic style and the Bishop laid the cornerstone October 22, 1848. Until the new building was completed in 1852, St. Mary's served as cathedral for the diocese. At the time of its completion, the new cathedral was the well beyond Cleveland's Public Square.