St. Michael, the first and only Catholic parish in one of Ohio's oldest communities, Worthington, was established on January 31,1946 by Bishop Michael J. Ready, with Reverend John P. Byrne as it Pastor. The first Mass was held in the seminary chapel of the Pontifical Seminary Josephinium on February 10, 1946. 128 parishioners attended the first Mass. Bishop Ready realigned parish boundries of Immaculate Conception to form St. Michael and Our Lady of Peace parishes.
Masses were held in a former dance hall on East North Street for the first month until that building was condemned as unsafe. Then the I.O.O.F. Hall on Granville Road (SR 161) was rented as a temporary church. By April 1946 the former Chase Mansion on the east side of North High Street, immediately north of Selby Boulevard was purchased. The stately old mansion was converted into a combination church, school, and rectory. By July 1948 a domed metal GI style quonset hut was constructed to serve as the church.
In 1954, St. Michael School was built with 11 classrooms,
a cafeteria and a kitchen. The Chase Mansion was converted into a convent for Joliet Franciscan Sisters who staffed the school. In 1957, the rectory with a threeroom office wing and a two-car garage was completed, replacing a leased house that served as rectory at 28 W. Stanton Ave. Ground was broken in late 1962 and the St MIchael Church was completed in 1964, with Father Byrne celebrating the first Mass on June 12 1964, as part of the ceremonies for the 1964 Graduation class from St. Michael elementary school. In 1967 the convent was built to be home for nine Joliet Franciscan Sisters.
In 1971, Mrs. Mary Jo Ryan became the first lay principal of St. Michael School. After 30 Years of serving St. Michael School and Parish the Joliet Franciscan Sisters left in 1974. The former convent became a home for retired priest and was named the Vianney Residence. In 1976, the Our lady of
Lourdes Grotto was built and dedicated to Mary. Later that year Father Byrne retired
and Rev. John A Geiger and Rev.Robert E. Schneider were appointed as co-pastors.
In 1976 the St. Michael Homecoming Festival was reborn to help parish organizations
enhance their specific funding needs and to raise extra funds to refurbish the rectory.
In 1979, an extra day was added to the fesitval and it became the "St. Michael Annual
Labor Day Weekend Festival."
In 1980, Father Edward F.Trenor became pastor and in 1981 started to plan for a new school addition. 1981 also marked the start of Friday night bingo at St. Michael to help ease the growing financial burden of operating the school and parish. In 1982 the school Gym addition was completed. In 1985, Christine M. Armbrust was named School Principal. In 1988, St. Michael School received national recognition, receiving the U.S. Department of Education "Exemplary School Award."
In 1990 Father William A. Dunn was named Pastor. In 1992, the Vianney Residence was closed as a retirement home for priest and the building was returned to St. Michael and was renamed St Ann Hall. In 1994, plans were begun to undertake a major renovation at St. Michael. In 1997 construction was started and before the project was completed in 1999, virually no part of St. Michael's buildings and grounds were left untouched.
St. Ann Hall was converted into Parish offices, with space for Youth Ministry and a classroom to be used by the new After Kindergarten program. A gathering space was added, connecting the rectory with the church. This space was nammed Marian Hall. In its basement three parish meeting rooms were named for the Archangels, St. Gabriel, St. Michael and St. Raphael. The school added a new library, art room, computer labratory, administrative wing, music room and storage space. Parking was added, a new garage was built and storage for the festival and St. Vincent de Paul society were also provided. Renovating school areas previously used for other purposes brought about and added classroom , an enrichment area, a copy center, a volunteers room, and a new teachers' lounge. The final phase of the project was completed in 1999, when the festival storage was moved and the last Quonset hut was torn down to accommodate additional parking. In 1999 and 2000, landscaping was done according to plan.
