I saw this little wooden church in Palmer southeast of Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula. The town of Palmer was established in 1872 and is named after mining executive L.C. Palmer. Which makes sense because there is an enormous mine just outside of town.

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This United Central Methodist Church is in downtown Muskegon and has a historical marker in front of it that reads:

The first Protestant society in Muskegon began as a mission station served by itinerant preachers. In 1843 the Reverend M. Warring held Muskegon’s first service in Martha Ryerson’s boardinghouse. Deacon Abner Bennett, a black lay preacher, and his wife, Mary, a former servant of President James K. Polk, formed the White Lake Sunday School. Bennett frequently preached in Muskegon. This church was formally organized on November 20, 1856.

In 1859, Muskegon Methodists built their first church at Clay and Jefferson streets. Congregationalists met in the church, which also served as the county court. In 1887 a larger church was built on the same site. The present Neo-Gothic-style church, built in 1928-1930, was designed by denominational architect, Thoralf M. Sundt of Philadelphia. This Indiana limestone church seats 1,000 people and the tower rises 100 feet.

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This beautiful brick and stone church overlooks Lake St. Clair in Gross Point Shores. By the 1790s, French priests were ministering to farmers living along the lake. In 1825, Father Francis Badin dedicated a log church to St. Paul near the Lake in present-day Grosse Pointe Shores. In 1850 a frame chapel was erected on the current site. Built in the 1890s, during Father John Eisen’s pastorate, the present French Gothic-inspired church was designed by Detroit architect Harry J. Rill. The first mass held in the church was Father Eisen’s funeral in 1899.

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Standing among the historic homes in Frankfort is this beautiful old historic white church. In 1871 the members of First Congregational Church of Frankfort built this church with its eighty-seven-foot-high steeple on land donated by the Frankfort Land Company. The company’s manager, Eugene B. Frost, was a charter member of the church. Donations from Frankfort residents and a loan from the Congregational Church Building Society financed the $5,000 building cost. The church completed the rear addition, built to house offices and Sunday school classrooms, in 1960.

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By the 1740s, French Catholic missionaries had come to the area near Good Heart, known to the Odawa as Waganakising which means Middle Village, to minister to local tribes. Later, missionary work was taken up by others, including Bishop Frederic Baraga, who dedicated a church at this site on August 1, 1833. The present St. Ignatius Church was constructed in 1889 to replace one destroyed by a fire that same year on Easter Day.

If you take the scenic drive down M119 through the tunnel of trees be sure to take the road next to the Good Hart General Store to go to Middle Village. Next to the church is a paved footpath that leads to a platform which overlooks Lake Michigan.

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I see many old churches, especially in a town where the population has declined, for sale or abandoned by their congregation. It is nice to see one repurposed and saved from the wrecking ball like this church that now serves as the Elk Rapids History Museum.  The historical marker in front of it reads:

In the late 1850s traveling pastors began to conduct Methodist services in Elk Rapids and nearby communities. First Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in the early 1870s. Services were held in a former school and then a former courthouse. The Rev. John W. Hart, who became pastor in 1899, decided the church needed a permanent building. In 1901 the congregation purchased architectural plans created by Benjamin D. Price and his son Max C. Price, Philadelphia architects who contracted with the Methodist Episcopal Board of Church Extensions to design a variety of plans for small, rural churches. These plans were made available to congregations nationwide through mail order catalogues. The church purchased the land for its new building in August 1901

Construction on this auditorium-type church began on October 29, 1901, with a cornerstone-laying service. Locally made yellow brick forms the walls. The Kinsella Glass Company of Chicago produced eight of the 13 Gothic stained-glass windows, which also served as memorials to early church members. The total cost of the building and lot was $8,250. On August 10, 1902, the Reverend William Dawe of Detroit dedicated the church building. In 1971 the church was renamed First United Methodist Church, a name it bored until it closed in 2011. The building was then donated to the Elk Rapids Area Historical Society, which converted it into its headquarters and a history museum. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

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In the small town of Bliss in northern Michigan stands this beautiful white church. The historical marker proudly posted in front of it gives some of the history of this old building. It reads:

The congregation of the East Bliss United Brethren Church was organized in 1880. During the pastorate of the Reverend Edward McFarland, this Carpenter Gothic style church was erected. It was dedicated on May 4, 1903. The congregation flourished until 1923, then declined. Financial difficulties forced it to disband in 1949. Former members purchased the church from the United Brethren Conference in 1965 and renamed it Bliss Pioneer Memorial Church. Memorial Day and fall homecoming services are held in it annually.

If you are wondering the town of Bliss is between Mackinaw City and Cross Village and it’s south of Wilderness State Park. It has an old general store and is a nice stop while out sightseeing.

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Built on a site that once had a log cabin for service the sandstone steeples of St. Peter Cathedral can be seen towering over downtown Marquette.  Bishop Frederic Baraga laid the cornerstone for this heavenly looking church in 1864 and it became the mother church of the Diocese of Marquette. It has survived two devastating fires. The first in 1879 and the second in 1935 that destroyed everything but the sandstone walls.

Two years after Bishop Baraga dedicated the Cathedral he died and his remains were placed in a plain pine coffin and interred under the cathedral altar. After the first fire, a crypt with six niches was built in the southwest corner of the cathedral.  After the second fire, A bishops’ chapel was added to the restored cathedral. A decision was made at this time to excavate the space under the chapel and build a crypt where the bishop’s remains are laid to rest to this day.

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I see a lot of old churches with Michigan historical markers, and this one along the St Clair River in Marine City was exceptional.  Father Gabriel Richard received this triangular plot of land by way of a grant from President John Quincy Adams on April 1, 1825. This area, known as Catholic Point, contains, among other buildings a church, a rectory, a convent, the former high school, a new high school, and a grade school. The present church edifice, the second to stand on the site, was built in 1903. A bell, which formerly hung in the original church, was cast in Normandy, France in 1825. The tracker organ in the church was built in 1861 and is one of the earliest American built models in Michigan. Among former pastors of Holy Cross Parish, in addition to Father Gabriel Richard, were the saintly missionary Bishop Frederic Baraga, and a pioneer priest of St. Clair, Father Lawrence Kilroy. Holy Cross Parish has remained in continuous use and service to the people for over 150 years.

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