St. Mary Church | |
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Saint Mary Roman Catholic Church of Lansing | |
![]() The Saint Mary Church in Lansing, Michigan, in winter (ca. 1881) viewed from across the intersection of Madison and Chestnut Street. The parsonage can be seen just north of the church, at the far right of the photo, and a one-story addition is barely visible around the corner of the transept. | |
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42°44′33″N84°33′33″W / 42.7424804°N 84.5590588°W | |
Location | 807 North Chestnut Street Lansing, Michigan (former address) [1] |
Country | United States |
Language(s) | English, German |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Membership | 900 (ca. 1880) [2] |
Weekly attendance | 850 (ca. 1880) [2] |
History | |
Former name(s) | First Catholic Church of Lansing |
Status | demolished |
Founder(s) | Fr. Francis X. Krutil |
Dedication | Saint Mary |
Dedicated | February 19, 1865 |
Consecrated | August 4, 1866 |
Events | Cornerstone laid: September 8, 1859 Addition: 1873 Transept added: 1879 Spire added: 1880 |
Past bishop(s) | Most Rev. Peter Paul Lefevere (during mission) |
Associated people | First Trustees: John P. Miller Burn Kelly Martin Fitzpatrick John Muiney |
Architecture | |
Architectural type | parish church |
Style | Romanesque revival, Gothic revival |
Years built | 1856-1864 |
Groundbreaking | 1856 |
Completed | November 23, 1864 |
Construction cost | $2,000 |
Closed | January 1, 1904 |
Demolished | 1905[3] |
Specifications | |
Capacity | 425+ (after 1879) [2] |
Length | 120 ft (37 m) |
Nave length | 60 ft (18 m) |
Width | 80 ft (24 m) |
Nave width | 40 ft (12 m) |
Width across transepts | 80 ft (24 m) |
Nave height | 40 ft (12 m) |
Number of floors | 1 nave 2 transept wings 3 bell tower 1 cellar 2.5 rectory |
Number of towers | 1 |
Tower height | 60 ft (18 m) |
Number of spires | 1 |
Spire height | 100 ft (30 m) |
Materials | red brick |
Bells | 3 [3] |
Administration | |
Archdiocese | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit |
Parish | St. Mary Parish, Lansing (August 4, 1866) |
Clergy | |
Pastor(s) | Rev. Fr. Louis Van den Driessche (Van Driss) (August 4, 1866-April 1891) Rev. Fr. Timothy F. Slattery (May 1891-November 1897) Note E Fr. Lafayette Isadore Brancheau (December 1897-January 1, 1905) (January 1, 1905-December 1913 at parish hall) (December 1913-November 1915 at St. Mary Cathedral) |
Saint Mary Church of Lansing was the first Catholic church built in Lansing, Michigan, as well as having the distinction of the first brick church edifice, brick parsonage and church bells in the city. It was part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. The church was dedicated in 1866 and served the parish until 1904. It was demolished in 1905 and eventually replaced by the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1913.
St. Mary Church was built at the intersection of Chestnut Street and Madison Street, on the northwest corner [4] [5] [6] in what is now known as the Old Forest Neighborhood, on land donated by Thomas and Aleaneas (Elenora) N. Saier (née Vogelweid), [7] who came to Lansing from Württemberg, Germany in 1851 [8] and who held the first Catholic mass in Lansing in 1854 at their log cabin. [9] [10] [11] From 1859 until the church was dedicated in 1865, Catholic services in Lansing were held irregularly at Representative Hall, [12] [13] the senate room in the Second Capitol Building at Allegan and Washtenaw. [14] Lansing remained a mission of Corunna, receiving a visit by a missionary priest approximately every three months until 1866. [3]
The St. Mary Church was an early (1860s) example of a mixed Romanesque revival/Gothic revival style with Germanic influences. The distinctive lines of the red brick structure, tower, and gabled roof are Romanesque elements, while the pointed-arch windows and tall, steep spire are characteristic of Gothic architecture. Later churches that employed this mix of styles are the 1878 St. Patrick's Parish Complex (Ann Arbor, Michigan), the St. Patrick Church (Shepherd, Michigan) [15] and the 1883 St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and Rectory (Taos, Missouri). However, the extant churches of this style lack the unique transept that transformed the St. Mary Church into a cathedral layout with a cross-gabled roof, [16] which are elements of the Gothic revival style. This was to be the first church edifice (and parsonage) in Lansing that were built of brick. [17]
Between 1856 and 1866, Lansing was in the territory of missionary priests from Corunna, a city thirty five miles to the northeast. Father Francis X. Krutil, a Moravian Redemptorist from the first (1841) St. Mary Roman Catholic Church (Detroit), was sent as a missionary by Bishop Peter Paul Lefevere to serve the Catholics of Lansing and other outlying areas in January, 1856. [18] He was reportedly an 11-language polyglot, known for his ability to unite immigrants of different nationalities. He served 39 missions in the midwest from 1852-1858, typically spending 10 days at a time in any community. [19] Fr. Krutil accepted the donation of two lots offered by Thomas and Eleanora Saier (née Vogelueidt) for the construction of a new church. The lots (E5 and E6) were at the top of a hill at the edge of town and had already been partially cleared for use as pasture land. [11] Groundbreaking was held the year he arrived, the cellar was completed, [9] and work was begun on a 36 by 50 foot foundation for the church. Note A
In July 1857 the church in Lansing (still little more than a cellar at the time) was placed under the care of the newly completed Corunna Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, [9] itself a mission of St. Michael's Church of Flint, [20] a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. The mission was administered by Most Rev. Peter Paul Lefevere, the Coadjutor Bishop of the Archdiocese.
Although the corner-stone for the building was laid by Bishop Le Fevere on September 8, 1859 [21] (marking the first time a Catholic bishop visited Lansing) [10] and the foundation commenced using funds raised from the local Catholic community, [22] construction was halted after the completion of the cellar and foundation due to a lack of funds [17] and organization. At the time, only about 30 families comprised the congregation. [11]
Rev. Louis Van den Driessche (Van Driss) became pastor of the Annunciation in Corunna and its missions in December 1863, [3] and took a special interest in the Lansing community, raising about $1,000 in funds to complete the church. Construction resumed in 1863 under his direction. Because of the persistence of Rev. Van Driss, the main building of the church, 40 by 60 feet, was completed in autumn 1864, [12] although late in construction, the workers removed and buried the stained glass windows for lack of payment. Rev. Van Driss wrote to Bishop Caspar Henry Borgess for assistance, who allocated $200 to settle accounts and have the windows re-installed. [3] On February 19, 1865 the church was dedicated and the congregation began to hold regular weekly services there instead of their informal prior location at Representative Hall. [13] "Elaborate decoration" Note B was added to the interior of the church in the spring of 1866. [23] On August 4, 1866, the Bishop of Detroit officially constituted the Saint Mary Church of Lansing. Father Van Driss was appointed as its first pastor, [24] who reportedly walked to Lansing from Detroit after his appointment on New Year's Day 1866. [11] He would serve there until April 1891. [3] [25]
The St. Mary church underwent numerous changes over its 50 year history. A brick parsonage was built on the grounds in 1870 [26] as a permanent residence for the pastor, which was a first for Lansing. [17] In 1873, a 36 by 50 foot addition to the edifice of the church was built to accommodate a growing congregation. [27] In 1873, a six room [3] wooden parochial school was built a block north of the church, [1] and in 1879, seating was expanded by adding a pair of 20 by 30 foot two-story wings to the east and west sides of the earlier addition, forming a transept, which was a highly unusual feature for this style of church, as it required the removal and replacement of large sections of the edifice with structural arches. The tower and spire were completed soon after in 1880, the spire and one of the three bells having been paid for personally by Rev. Van Driss. [3] By that time, the congregation numbered approximately 900, with 850 regularly attending Sunday services. [2] The church was notable at the time for having the only church bells in Lansing. [4] [5] Note C
Three Sisters of Charity came from Cincinnati, Ohio to staff the parochial school in August 1874, [9] [3] with Sister Octavia McKenna as Principal, who had taught the previous year in Bay City. In its first year, the school had 100 students. An addition to the west side of the parsonage (or, possibly the building directly across the street, which was owned by Reverend Van Driss) served as the first convent in Lansing from 1874 until 1909, when the sisters moved to a permanent convent on Seymour Avenue in Lansing. [28]
Modern lighting was added after 1890 in the form of two large chandeliers in the center of the nave that used combination gas electric lighting, where the vertical chimney lamps were fueled by gas, and the downward-facing lamps held electric bulbs. This form of lighting was common in Lansing between 1890 and 1915 during the transition from gas to electric lighting. [29]
Rev. Van Driss often refused to accept his salary in order to pay bills, and his personal contributions to complete the tower and steeple eventually caused a dispute. The Bishop sent a commission to Lansing to settle the dispute in 1889, and in May 1891, Rev. Van Driss took a half year sabbatical to his native Belgium. Upon returning to the United States, he took a position as chaplain to the Sisters of Charity at Mount St. Joseph, Ohio. [3]
Father Timothy F. Slattery of Ireland was appointed pastor in Lansing after the departure of Rev. Van Driss. The new pastor soon found himself at odds with the trustees, and a group of parishioners rebelled against him, publishing an article in the local paper titled, "Set HIM Out". [30] He found himself involved in a three year feud, culminating with a group of sixteen men carrying him out of the rectory. Although he quickly reclaimed the rectory, the feud continued until his failing health forced him to retire from the parish in 1897. [3] [31]
The third pastor of Lansing parish, Father Lafayette Isadore Brancheau, arrived in December 1897 [24] and soon made plans to relocate the parish to a more central location for the Catholic community, which had spread out over the decades since the first church was built. Property was purchased about half a mile south of the original church. Fr. Brancheau oversaw the construction of a larger, brick school building in 1903 on Walnut Street (one block north of the new Capitol building) at a cost of $24,000, [4] as well as a new thirteen room parish hall [9] [3] that temporarily served as the church from January 1, 1904 to December 1913 while the St. Mary's Cathedral was under construction. [32] Property for a permanent high school and convent was acquired on Seymour Avenue by 1908. [24] The last service at the church on Chestnut Street was held on January 1, 1904, and the first service at the new parish hall on Walnut Street was held later that day. [11] The edifice of the Saint Mary Church was razed in 1905 Note D and the property (including the parsonage, now referred to by locals as "The Nunnery") was sold for residential use by 1909, becoming part of Seymour's Subdivision. [26] [33] Most of the bricks were cleaned up and sold, with the remainder of the damaged bricks being stacked and buried at the property boundaries. After the cleanup was completed, it was rumored that the headstones of two graves of the Sisters of Charity were lost on the south side of the rectory. The graves had been slated to move to the Mount St. Joseph Sisters of Charity Motherhouse Cemetery center circle, but the consolidation was not completed until 1909. [34] The records for that property were lost in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception fire of 1938. [35]
Saint Patrick's Church is a Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, and is located at 15th and Iowa Streets, Dubuque, Iowa, United States. The church and rectory were included as contributing properties in the Jackson Park Historic District that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. St. Patrick's Church is located two blocks away from St. Mary's Church. The reason for the close proximity of the two parishes was that St. Mary was originally built for service to German families of Dubuque, and St. Patrick's provided services for the Irish settlers to Dubuque.
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The Lansing community remained a mission of Corunna until 1866, and was visited about once every three months. Services were held in the capital senate room because the church remained uncompleted. Fr. Louis Van Driss became pastor of the Annunciation parish and its vast missions in December, 1863. He took great interest in the Lansing community and made up his mind that the church would be completed. Bishop Borgess was asked to help and contributed $200. This was used to pay for the window frames which had been installed and taken away for lack of payment. By the fall of 1864 the church was complete enough to be dedicated.
The Roman Catholic Church, in 1903, erected a fine large brick school building on Walnut Street, between Ionia and Ottawa streets, at a cost of $24,000.
In 1859, the Roman Catholics build a large brick church, St. Mary's, on the northwest corner of Madison and Chestnut streets. It contained the only chime of bells Lansing has had.
...in 1859 at the northwest corner of Madison and Chestnut Streets, with the only chime bells Lansing had at the time.
Thomas Saier was a German, born in 1819, aged 74 years. He came to Lansing in 1851, where he resided until his death, accumulating a handsome property. He left, living, two sons and three daughters.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)This edifice, 40 by 60 feet in size, is now completed externally, and we understand that the interior will be so far completed in January that the congregation will be able to hold weekly services therein. Catholic meetings have been held in Representative Hall during the past year, but only once in four weeks.
This church is so far completed, that it was dedicated last Sunday with appropriate ceremonies. Morning and evening meetings were held last Sunday, and the attendance was very large, all the sitting and standing room occupied. The erection of this church will prove a great convenience to the Catholic population in and around this city, as the numbers of that denomination have been increasing among us for some time, and they have hitherto had no regular place of worship.
The first brick church edifice was the Catholic church, which was commenced in the year 1859, but was not completed until a year or two subsequent, owing to pecuniary difficulties, but the church is now in a flourishing condition, furnishing a brick residence for its priest, which no other church in the city does for its pastor.
This is the third retreat with which, within the brief period of five months, the Catholics of Chicago have been blessed, the first being given by the Jesuit Father Weninger, and the second soon after by the Redemptorist, Father Krutil. May we not hope that henceforth the religious progress of our city will keep even in advance of its astonishing material prosperity. Concedat Deus Amen. M. Dillon, St. Louis Leader, August 15, 1856.
The corner-stone of the Catholic Church in this city will be placed by the hands of Bisop (sic) Le Fever, on Tuesday, Sept. 8th.
A Catholic Church is to be erected in Lansing during the coming season; a part of the needful having been already raised by subscription.
The "Cathedral," the central house of worship of the Catholic denomination of this city, has during the present spring been greatly improved by elaborate interior decoration.
Fr. Louis Van Driss, who instituted St. Mary parish in Lansing, and who was its priest for twenty-seven years, leaving in 1891, is dead in Belgium, his native country, where he had retired to a home for priests. His age was 79. He was known all over Michigan.
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