By Jonah McKeown
St. Louis, Mo., Feb 26, 2025 / 12:05 pm
A parish church in St. Louis that primarily serves the African American community was announced Feb. 24 as a recipient of a preservation grant to support the restoration of the historic building’s stained-glass windows.
St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church, known in the community as the “The Rock” because of the church building’s rock-hewn appearance, was one of 30 Black churches throughout the country chosen to receive a grant this year from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, an independent nonprofit organization.
The parish, which is under the care of the Redemptorists and located in the Grand Center district of St. Louis, will receive $500,000 to help restore its stained-glass windows, which were created in Munich by the German firm Meyer & Company and installed at the church in time for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.
Shannon Horstmann, a longtime parishioner and volunteer grant writer at The Rock, told CNA that she had been pursuing this particular “highly competitive” grant for several years. The church’s 54 stained-glass windows all need to be cleaned, repaired, re-leaded, re-supported, and resealed, ensuring they are water and airtight.
The windows “are irreplaceable works of art and are estimated at $15 million in total value,” the grant application, which Horstmann shared with CNA, reads.
“[These] 120-year-old iconic works of art have succumbed to the environment and need to be cleaned, repaired, and restored to continue to shed light on this active, Black congregation.”
The parish itself dates to 1867, and the church building, built of quarry stone, was dedicated in 1872.
