Century-Old Steeple Represents Less Than Half of Parish History
A Look at History
Ste. Anne's Church
BY FRANK STRAUS

Recent news accounts indicate that Ste. Anne's Parish Church, on Mackinac Island's Main Street, needs a new steeple. The Gothic Revival steeple has been a landmark of the Island's Mission Point since 1890.

In one respect, rebuilding the Ste. Anne's steeple will not be as easy as building it was. The original steeple was built during the period of old-growth timber harvesting. A similar late-1800s steeple from Dubuque, Iowa, was offered for sale recently by an architectural salvage firm. The Iowa steeple is based on heavy beams measuring eightfeet by eight-feet, with an interior frame of two-by-sixes.

Not so many sawmills appear to be cutting new eight-byeights anymore. A recent Internet search for eight-byeights in Michigan found a source who wrote last October that he was willing to sell some, but he was a man who was tearing down a barn near Detroit. Other sources can be found all over the United States, but almost all of them are selling recycled pieces. In salvage situations like this, the buyer has to find the wood and move it to its new home; and many of today's builders are reluctant to use century old dimensional lumber for load-bearing purposes.

Looking toward Fort Mackinac from near Bennett Hall. The 1874 Ste. Anne's Church, visible at right, before steeple was erected in 1890, is the one that stands on Main Street today. (Photographs courtesy of Tom Pfeiffelmann)

The Ste. Anne's challenge will remind us that different Mackinac Island churches have different steeples and spires. It was the custom of the Catholic Church in Europe to place a cross on top of its steeples, so for some years many (but not all) Protestant churches tried to avoid doing so. In New England, Protestant churches often raised weathervanes on top of their churches so that farmers and boatmen could use wind directions to get an idea of approaching weather. The Mission Church (1829), built in the New England tradition, has a weathervane spire; bikers can look at it when they pass the church and push off for a ride around Mackinac Island. The church and spire were built with lumber milled at Old Mill Creek, near Mackinaw City.

Unlike the New England churches, the Anglican Communion preserved apostolic succession from the Twelve Apostles, through the Catholic Church, when King Henry VIII ordered his bishops to follow him rather than the Pope. Mackinac Island's Trinity Church (1882) reflected this heritage by placing a multibranched cross on top of its unadorned steeple.

The Mission Church.

The simple Ste. Anne's cross, different in design from that of Trinity, was raised in 1890. In Ste. Anne's case, its carpenters built a Gothic Revival spire and then placed an unadorned cross atop it.

The Union Congregational Church (1904), in keeping with the name that almost everybody uses, "Little Stone Church," raised Mackinac Island's smallest steeple cross atop its shingled bell tower.

Although the Ste. Anne's Church building, and its steeple, are more than 100 years old, the building is the home of a parish that is more than 300 years old, founded in 1670 by Father Claude Dablon. While the first 25 years of the parish registry appear to be lost, the Ste. Anne's parish registry is still one of the oldest records in the central United States of the celebration of key Christian sacraments such as baptism and marriage. The current registry contains entries dating back to 1695. Earlier records may have been lost when the Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the commander of Fort de Buade in St. Ignace, transferred the garrison and most French activity at the Straits of Mackinac to Detroit in 1706.

Above: This church was demolished in 1873 and replaced by the current building. It had been dismantled in Mackinaw City and reconstructed on the Island around 1780 on Market Street. It was later moved to the east side of the Island.

An earlier version of Ste. Anne's Church was built at Fort Michilimackinac, Mackinaw City, in the 1700s and reconstructed in 1964. This mainland Ste. Anne's was dismantled, moved to Market Street on Mackinac Island, and rebuilt on a tiny church lot in 1780-81. The British government that oversaw the removal was somewhat hostile to Catholicism, and did not allocate the church enough space to build a rectory for itself. For almost 50 years, from 1781 to 1830, Ste. Anne's Church was a parish without a resident priest. Its parishioners were dependent, for the Catholic sacraments, upon visits from priests based in Detroit.

Top left: Ste. Anne's Catholic Church as it appears today. The parish was founded by French Jesuits, the congregation for centuries was largely Native American, the current building was built after the Irish Famine and immigration from the Emerald Isle to America, and the church's current programs serve Mackinac Island workers from all over the world.

This Catholic church served Islanders during the height of the fur-trading era. In 1830, Father Samuel Mazzuchelli was assigned to serve the parish. He found the small church inadequate. Working closely with successful fur trader Magdalene Laframboise, Mazzuchelli again dismantled the church and moved it from Market Street to its current Mission Point location, enlarging it and building a rectory for the priest.

During the mid-1800s, the fur trade declined. Mackinac Island took on new economic life as a home for the upper Great Lakes fishing trade and as a port for steamboats. Many of the Islanders who filled these new jobs were members of the Catholic faith, and Ste. Anne's Church was completely rebuilt in 1874. This time the old church, possibly including remnants of the structure raised more than one century before in Mackinaw City, was completely taken down. The 1874 church is the one that stands on Main Street today.

At left: Mackinac Island's Trinity Episcopal Church (1882) reflected its heritage by placing a multibranched cross on top of its unadorned steeple.

Ste. Anne's was built in a Gothic Revival style that made it possible to raise a steeple when the parish could afford to do so. In the 1880s, the sudden outburst of the "cottage era" on Mackinac made it happen. The tower and steeple were raised in 1890, reportedly through the generosity of summer cottagers.

Summer worshipers at Ste. Anne's included members of the Cudahy family, meatpackers of Irish origin. The longtime owner of the Barr cottage, William Amberg, the Chicago officesupply inventor and manufacturer, also worshiped at Ste. Anne's. Amberg, born in Germany, was one of the inventors of the manila file folder.

Amberg's role in Ste. Anne's history is only one facet of the ethnic stew that has characterized this eclectic parish over the years. The parish was founded by French Jesuits, the congregation for centuries was largely Native American, the current building was built after the Irish Famine and immigration from the Emerald Isle to America, and the church's current programs serve Mackinac Island workers from all over the world, especially Jamaica and the West Indies.

The Union Congregational Church (1904), in keeping with the name that almost everybody uses, "Little Stone Church," raised Mackinac Island's smallest steeple cross atop its shingled bell tower.