St. Francis Catholic Church parish was established in 1856 by German immigrants as a daughter parish of St. Henry and was named in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. A brick church measuring 38 by 65 feet was soon built on land donated by Christopher and Margaretha Schunck. Early pastors from the Missionaries of the Precious Blood traveled from Himmelgarten Convent near St. Henry and from other neighboring parishes to serve the new congregation. The present church, dedicated on 30 September 1906, was designed by architect William P. Ginther of Akron, Ohio, and built by contractor Nicholas A. Ley of Minster, Ohio. This High Victorian Gothic Revival building measures 54 by 99 feet, with a spire rising 110 feet. Its short nave is dominated by an extensive transept with large stained glass windows created by the Artistic Glass Company of Cincinnati, and Bedford Stone on the entrance and exterior walls gives the building a highly decorative and welcoming effect. A large bell in the tower, named St. Michael, was purchased from the Van Duzen Co. of Cincinnati and added to the two bells from the old church, and three carved wood altars came from the Hackner Company of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Because of its historic and architectural features, the church was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1979. The public school across from it, designed by A. DeCurtins, was erected in 1904 and used until 1961, and the parish became part of the St. Henry Parish Cluster in 2004.