The Church
Time wore on, a town sprung up where a cluster of wigwams once stood, and the silent forest gave way before the march of civilization. Catholics were in the majority among the early settlers, and now and then some other priest on his way to more important missions would stop to offer the Saving Victim.
The first St. Mary's - a small structure sixteen by eighteen - was built in the summer of 1856. The carpenter's bench served as an altar and a row of pine benches along the walls as seats. Thus was sown the spiritual mustard seed which was to produce a tree goodly in size and fruit-bearing.
Click for larger view.The one plan and purpose, however, which now engaged the mind and challenged all the energies of "the boy priest" was the erecti characteristic energy to accomplish this purpose. After surmounting many difficulties, work on the building was begun in the spring of 1870.
The building was described in the notice for bids as of Roman style, cruciform, with a nave one hundred and thirty-eight by fifty-six feet, having a transept eighty-eight by thirty feet, and with walls from Chippewa sandstone thirty-six feet above the water table. James Lawler, a builder of some note, secured the contract for the stone work and caused the cut stone to be hauled from Eau Claire, while M. J. Cummings was selected to superintend and construct the wood work. The following building committee was appointed: Louis Nado, Coliche Allen, Frank Bonville, P. Lego, L. Bonneilier, D. Felix, Louis Huber, F. Kleinheintz, M. Hogan, M. Hall, J. M. Cummings and Dr. McBean, while in a characteristic way, Father Goldsmith named himself president and treasurer of the committee. Such time as he could spare from actual church work here, and attendance upon the half-dozen missions scattered through the river country, he devoted to urging on and collecting for the new church. In this enterprise, apparently so daring, the good will of the whole community was so manifest, so hearty and so generous, that while we admire the labor done, the journeys undertaken, and the hardships suffered by the pastor, and honor and applaud him, we must always bear in mind that back of this splendid courage was the sympathy and the moral support of the entire people.
Click for larger view.August 22, 1872 was a happy day for all. It was the occasion of the solemn consecration of the church. On this occasion, ceremonies of more than ordinary grandeur marked the fulfillment of a long cherished hope, on the bank overlooking the Chippewa River.
Click for larger view.Maid and matron, merchant, tradesman and the radiant, fearless, lumber-jack, all, did their share, - Notre Dame, as she stands giant-like, is a monument to their combined efforts, the fruit of their sacrifices. Little was done toward the interior decoration of the church till 1875, when stations and a sanctuary lamp were procured, and in 1878 the new altar.
All this activity did not end with the church building. Religious societies were organized.
Members grew in numbers so that a few years later there had to be an expansion and the Germans built themselves a beautiful church - St. Charles Borromeo; still after another expansion, the Holy Ghost church, on the south side and let us not forget the mustard seed sown in Flambeau and Bob's Creek.
In 1904-1906 Notre Dame has carried the Word to Springfield, Elk Mound, Cook's Valley, Chetek, Weyerhaeuser, Strickland, Chippewa City, Anson, Bob's Creek and Holcombe, beside the Hospital ministry, the Poor Farm, the Insane Asylum and the Wisconsin Home for the Feeble-minded.
And today, The Church of Notre Dame, in all humility, rejoices in the large number of her children, where one hundred fifty years ago she existed only as a speck in the wilderness, today she continues to welcome her children and visitors from all over.
This writing and photographs are
from the 1906 Golden Jubilee Memories book.
Imprimatur James Schwebach, Bishop of La Crosse.
Photos Courtesy of Chippewa Valley Historical Society
Top