Located in the unincorporated community of Maria Stein, it is the home of an active congregation and has been recognized as a historic site because of its well-preserved late nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival architecture.

When the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railway expanded through Mercer County some years later, its surveyors chose a path through the small community of Maria Stein, to the west of St. Johns.

[5]: 6  The center of the society's activities was the Maria Stein Convent, located less than 1 mile (1.6 km) north of St.

[3]: 224  The new and current church was built between 1888-1894 using 135,000 bricks and at a total cost of $43,354.19 paid from a building fund and special collections (Approx.

The church's heavily decorated interior includes elaborate altars and a reredos built in the Romanesque Revival style.

Designed by the DeCurtins Brothers in a combination of architectural styles, its walls are built of brick, laid in a stretcher bond; the square structure rests on a stone foundation and is covered by a slate roof that is pierced by multiple dormer windows.

More than thirty other buildings in western Ohio related to the Society of the Precious Blood were listed on the National Register at the same time as part of a multiple property submission.

"[5]: 6  St. John's Church lies in the middle of this heavily Catholic area, just 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) away from its center at the Maria Stein Convent.