St. Florian Catholic Church Steeple
Have you ever noticed how similar some church steeples are to each other? It seemed to me that small and rural churches had one of several choices in buying a steeple for their church. This appeared to be especially true of churches that were built in the mid and late twentieth century.
Sure enough when I looked up where to buy church steeples several websites showed similar designs with the biggest difference being in the choice of vents or windows in the base. Four sided narrow triangular pieces that come together in a sharp point at the apex make up the basis of a steeple design.
Large urban and historic churches often have hand built steeples that are quite unique. That’s what I saw when we drove by the St. Michael’s Catholic Church in St. Florian, Alabama (USA).
The town of St. Florian, a town of less than 500 in 2010, was established in the early 1870s by Father A. J. Houser, Director of the Homestead Society of Cincinnati. The land was the former Wilson Plantation. He divided the town into individual lots for German immigrants who became landowners, built homes, raised families and built a Catholic Church near the present building. The original building was moved to the present day site in 1878 and replaced with the today’s building in 1916. The stain glassed windows which were ordered from Munich Bavaria were not installed until the 1920s.
The steeple on St. Michael’s is very ornate in its design. It sits atop a brick bell tower that contains arched and louvered openings. The base has closed dormers on each of its four sides with intricate trim work on the front of the dormers.
The top section of the steeple is shingled and divided with wood trim into eight sections. More trim forms a circular shape at the apex. All of that trim work is topped with a cross sitting on a ball shape.
The details on the brick bell tower topped with several different details on the steeple add up to an architectural gem.
It’s very obvious when you see this steeple that it is not a cookie cutter steeple ordered from a factory. This is one of those hand-designed and built steeples that St. Florian founders lovingly erected.
Do you also notice the architectural designs of church steeples? If so, please comment below and let us know if you have a favorite.
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