BENWOOD, WV—St. John Catholic Church in Benwood, West Virginia, celebrated its Sesquicentennial Anniversary on August 1, 2025.
To celebrate the historic occasion, the church will hold a Sesquicentennial Jubilee celebration Mass on Sunday, November 16, 2025, at 11 a.m., at the church. A reception and dinner will follow at St. Jude Parish Hall in Glen Dale. The event will include a special celebration of the church’s history and impact on the community. For tickets, please contact the parish office at 304-232-6455 or event co-chair, Mark Robbins at 304-650-6233.
One hundred and fifty years ago, on August 1, 1875, St. John Church became a parish upon the appointment of its first resident pastor, Rev. Fr. Patrick F. McKernan.
Three churches located on the same site in Center Benwood have served the congregation during its storied history.
Construction on the first St. John Church began about a year after the Civil War ended in 1865. Completed in 1868, the church was dedicated to St. John the Beloved. Prior to being established as a parish, priests from St. Alphonsus Parish and St. Joseph Cathedral traveled from Wheeling to celebrate Mass.
Less than twenty years after it had been built, a significant flood on the Ohio River in early February 1884 severely damaged the first St. John Church. The church was razed, and plans were made for a larger, more elaborate structure to be built.
On June 28, 1891, the cornerstone was laid for the second St. John Church on the same site. It was built higher off the ground to prevent flooding. The glorious new church was dedicated on January 24, 1892. It served the parish for over a century.
St. John Parish was a true melting pot for immigrants of several European countries. Roman Catholics from Ireland, England, Wales, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, and Romania settled in Benwood and nearby Boggs Run in the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s for industrial and manufacturing job opportunities, especially in the steel, coal mining, and railroad industries.
Some of the calamities St. John Parish survived include the cyclone that hit Benwood on July 27, 1910, which caused major damage to the church; the Benwood Mine Disaster of April 28, 1924, which claimed the lives of many parishioners, forcing the pastor to conduct mass funerals; and the Ohio River Flood of March 17 – 19, 1936, which nearly reached the second floor church sanctuary before its crest of 55 feet. The parish also survived the population decline of Benwood due to the expansion of West Virginia Route 2 in the mid-1960s, as well as the loss of jobs with the closure of the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Benwood Plant in 1982.
March 30, 2015, was another difficult day in the history of St. John Parish,, when a fire destroyed the second St. John Church. The parishioners of St. John Parish and the Benwood community were devastated over the loss of their magnificent and historic church, a landmark and place of worship for generations of families. The parishioners will always feel this tragic loss.
Miraculously, several statues, including the side altar statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus, survived the fire. As the burning roof collapsed around the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it remained unharmed and intact upon its pedestal amid the ferocious flames.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a third St. John Church was built on the same site. Ground was broken for the new church on June 28, 2016, the 125th anniversary of the 1891 groundbreaking for the second church. Several items salvaged from the fire, such as the tabernacle and stained-glass windows, were incorporated into the new structure. The new church was dedicated on September 9, 2017.
During construction of the new church, St. John parishioners worshiped at nearby St. James Parish in McMechen. Before St. James was established in 1900, Catholic families living in McMechen traveled by foot to Benwood to worship. St. John Parish and St. James Parish have shared the same pastor since June 20, 1995.
St. John Parish operated St. John School, whose origins in 1860 predate the establishment of the parish itself. The school was staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph from Wheeling. In the fall of 1971, St. John School was consolidated with St. James School in McMechen to form Saints James & John School. Saints James & John School, which was located at 52 – 7th Street in Benwood, was also affected by the 2015 fire. Students finished the 2014 – 2015 school year in the former St. Francis Xavier School in Moundsville. Saints James & John School closed in the spring of 2015 and was subsequently razed, along with St. John Church and the church rectory. All Saints Catholic School, a diocesan school, was established in the former St. Francis Xavier School in the fall of 2015, but it closed two years later in the spring of 2017.
St. John Parish administered to the former St. Catherine School in North Benwood, located at 101 Marshall Street. Originally established as its own parish in 1924, St. Catherine served a congregation of predominantly Croatian descent until it ceased parish operations about 1928. A school was established in the same building in 1929, which graduated its first class in 1932. St. Catherine School was served by the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus from Parkersburg, West Virginia from 1929 to 1953; the Sisters of St. Joseph from Wheeling from 1953 to 1954; and the Sisters Auxiliaries of the Apostolate from Monongah, West Virginia from 1954 to 1962. St. Catherine School closed in the spring of 1962 and was razed in May 1970.
In the fall of 1955, Bishop Donahue Memorial High School, the central Catholic high school for Marshall County, was founded at 325 Logan Street in McMechen by Rev. Fr. John J. Griffin of St. John Parish; Rev. Fr. Joseph J. Daly of St. James Parish; and Rev. Msgr. Benjamin F. Farrell, J.C.D. of St. Francis Xavier Parish, along with the Most Rev. John J. Swint, Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling (later Wheeling-Charleston). The high school was named after the Most Rev. Patrick J. Donahue (1849 – 1922), third Bishop of Wheeling from 1894 until his death in 1922. Bishop Donahue High School graduated its first class in 1959. In the early years, Bishop Donahue was staffed by the Dominican Sisters of Peace from Saint Catharine, Kentucky. In the 1960s, St. Jude Parish in Glen Dale and Our Lady of Peace Parish in Mount Olivet joined the Bishop Donahue family. Bishop Donahue High School was closed in the spring of 2017.
Through its many triumphs and tragedies during the past 150 years, the parishioners of St. John Parish have truly embodied its parish motto – “Faith strong as steel, rich as coal”.
The St. John Parish Sesquicentennial Jubilee Committee is being co-chaired by lifelong parishioner Carmella A. Szymialis and longtime parishioner Mark D. Robbins. Event planning is being overseen by Rev. Fr. Doney Chacko, R.C.J., who has served St. John Parish since September 2021. Lifelong parishioner Joseph A. “Joey” Tellitocci serves as the parish historian and is compiling a history of St. John Parish.
