High atop Mt. Adams, the Church of the Immaculata, a Roman Catholic church, rises in front of you in Cincinnati, Ohio. At 30 Guido Street, this limestone building commemorates the Immaculate Conception and serves the Holy Cross–Immaculata Parish in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. From one of the highest points in the city it affords a scenic view of the Ohio River below.
The church you face was built in 1859, just before the American Civil War, for the neighborhood’s German congregation. The decision to build here came after Archbishop John Baptist Purcell, caught in a severe storm at sea, promised that if he survived he would erect a church on the city's highest point. Nearby, the Holy Cross parish once primarily served Irish immigrants; when its monastery closed in 1977 those parishioners joined with Immaculata.
Inside, note that seven paintings by Joseph M. Kuriger were restored through the Mt. Adams Preservation Association and mounted over the main and side altars between 1863 and 1870, and that a painted scroll stretches above the main altar. Below you, the Ohio River winds past this ridge — the view a promise Archbishop Purcell once made in a storm.