Holy Trinity Church

The Holy Trinity Church is the remaining branch of the Old Assumption Church from the mid 19th century. The Holy Trinity Church was built in 1848 but was officially established in 1849 and opened its doors in 1851 to the public for first mass. The church was established on the basis of the previous church goers who was a large part of the German American population in Evansville. The church was a large attraction for the city of Evansville and the beautiful structure stood tall and angelic unit the fire of 1950. After 100 years the church was torn down and another structure took its place to be what we can see now, Holy Trinity Church of Evansville.

The Holy Trinity Church was a branch off of the Assumption Church. The Assumption church was home to German speaking catholic immigrants and their families, but due to the destruction of the church in order to build the new civic center many churches saw it was their time to branch off and begin their own. The Holy Trinity Church branched off and began building the beautiful church in 1848 and was officially established in 1849. It wasn’t until 1851 the church was finally up and open to the public. This extremely gorgeous church was known as being the most angelic church in Evansville, and brough many people in from all over to witness its beauty.

The Holy Trinity Church and school were built directly beside each other. The city would use Birdseye’s photos of the downtown area to bring more people into the town to visit or stay and in many cases the city would include photos of the church as an appeal. The church was taller than the courthouse and after its remodel in 1873, the outside looked even more appealing. The landscape outside was done by the church and worked on by the congregation and church employees rather than the city. Postcards were made up of the church and school and were plastered everywhere.

The Holy Trinity Church, in its prime, was the oldest church standing and had the largest congregation in Evansville. The congregation began getting so large and the people were coming in from different backgrounds that by 1930’s the German speaking part had fallen out and was mostly consisted of English-speaking people. Although this was a part of how they were founded many did not stray but rather opened their doors and welcomed the new members. The church then moved their mass schedule to accommodate all members: Sundays were at 7:30 and 10:30, Holy Days were at 7:30, 12:05, and 5:10, weekdays were at 7:30, and 12:05, and Saturdays were only at 5:10 in the evening. These new hours and schedules brought the average total of members to 103 families and total parishioners to 312.

The Holy Trinity Church sat on 219 North West 3rd Street, in Evansville, Indiana, 47708. Until the church fire in 1950. In 1950 the church was struck by lightning and caught fire. After the fire to the building the church remained closed until 1965 when the building was officially razed and destroyed. A new building went into space, which is the one we can see today. The new building is much smaller and has a very different appeal to it but still remains popular to the public

“Trinity Catholic School and Church.” CONTENTdm. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://digital.evpl.org/digital/collection/evapost/id/421/rec/1

Engler, Joe. “Historic Evansville.” Historic Evansville - Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://historicevansville.com/site.php?id=holytrinity

Engler, Joe. “Historic Evansville.” Historic Evansville - Tag: holytrinity. Accessed November 9, 2023. https://www.historicevansville.com/tag.php?id=holytrinity