HOLY TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH, founded in 1891 to serve the needs of Slovak immigrants to Cleveland, was the third-largest Lutheran parish at that time in the U.S. Founded by JAN PANKUCH and 50 others, the congregation subscribed to the beliefs of the Lutheran Synodical Conference, a very orthodox body that adhered to the Augsburg Confession. The 1613 Kralic Bible was used, and services were in Slovak. The congregation was so concerned that its pastor convey the proper doctrinal views that it had no permanent spiritual leader until 1905, when Rev. Leopold A. Jarosi was selected. No dissension from church doctrine was permitted, which resulted in a schism; more liberal parishioners left Holy Trinity in 1901 to found Sts. Peter & Paul Lutheran at Quail and Thrush streets. By the 1950s this congregation had become the largest Slovak Lutheran church in the U.S. The church, originally located at Scovill Ave. and Putnam St., attracted Slovaks from all over the city. Ca. 1906 it moved to the 2500 block of E. 20th St. To make way for the St. Vincent urban-renewal project, the church was relocated in 1960 to 6220 Broadview in Parma, where services were offered in the old language for the 20% of the parishioners who were Slovak. By 1995 the church's Slovak identity had all but disappeared, though it did continue to offer one service in Slovak every week for a dwindling number of elderly parishioners.
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