Backyard Adventures

36 PIKE PUBLISHING BACKYARD ADVENTURES 2016 PERRY COUNTY ST. MICHAELS CATHOLIC CHURCH (CIRCA 1858) Cannelton St. Michael's Catholic Church, located on Main and 8th streets, was built of native sandstone in 1858. It is a beautiful church fea- turing a 156 feet high steeple and a bell tower containing four bells. It also has a large clock which chimes every half hour. Once inside the church, you see beauti- ful stained glass windows and hand-painted statues. The rectory was built in 1872, but was removed in 1981. In the basement, there is a beautiful Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. A Wicks pipe organ was added in 1950 and mass is held every Sunday. ST. AUGUSTINE (CIRCA 1838) Leopold The history of Leopold begins with Catholic missionary activity. Father Benoit, with funds ad- vanced by Bishop Brute, built the Chapel Church, a two-story frame building 20x30 feet, having two rooms below for residence and one above for the chapel. The stairway leading up to the church was so steep that one day a parishioner, only two or three steps from the top, stumbled and began to roll down, carrying with him all of those coming up the steps; all landed in a heap at the bottom. Bishop Brute paid a visit to the Chapel during a severe drought. The Bishop noticed a spot, near the Chapel Church building, which seemed wetter than the ground around it. He stooped down and with his hands scooped out a place where water appeared. The people dug a well that filled with water. This well was never known to go dry and was still in use in 1935, known as the Bishop's Well. Father Benoit had moved from Derby to Leopold, where the Chapel Church became the main Catholic Church of Perry County. The name was changed to St. Augustine in 1842. ST. PIUS (CIRCA 1847) Troy A large congregation of German Catholics lived in Troy by 1835, but they were only occasionally visited by priests from the Diocese of Bardstown, Ky., and the Diocese of Vincennes. Mass was said in settlers' homes. The first priest on record as assigned to Troy was Father Ju- lian Benoit, sent by Bishop Simon Bruté, first bishop of Vincennes, in 1837. Father Benoit only visited Troy once a month. Father Joseph Kundek as- sumed responsibility for Troy in 1838. He dreamed of creating a Catholic settlement between Troy and Jasper. Kundek advertised in Cincinnati's German newspaper, inviting German Catholics to settle in Southern Indiana. He founded parishes in Jasper, Ferdinand, Celestine, Orleans, Miller's Settle- ment and Lanesville. Father Kundek wrote in 1844, "The Catholic congregation in Troy is begging for a church." In 1847, he drew up plans and Troy's first Catholic Church was built that year on the site where the present church stands. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35 HARRISON COUNTY BLUE RIVER CHRISTIAN CHURCH (CIRCA 1842) Leavenworth Area Washington Weathers and wife, Mary, donated to the Trustees of Blue River Christian Church, two acres of land, subject to a public road located in the East half being used for a church house and hitch- ing, and ground for horses. The Blue River (Campbelite) Church, now which is called both the Blue River Christian Church and the Blue River Church of Christ was organized in 1842. For about seven years, services were held in Elder John Ferguson's barn. He lived about one mile northwest of the spot where the present church stands. John Ferguson and Washington Weathers contributed one-half acre each to the church and a log house was built about one-half mile from where the present house stands. The log house was used until 1879, when the present frame one was built. MT. SOLOMON LUTHERAN (CIRCA 1805-1810) Corydon Rev. George Forster preached to Lutherans in Harrison County as early as 1805. Mt. Solomon Church was organized in 1810, four miles southwest of this building and is credited as being the first Luther- an Church established in Indiana. The Mt. Solomon German Re- form Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded in 1810 in Harrison County when Indiana was a Terri- tory. The church and cemetery is located approximately 6.5 miles west of Corydon on Walnut Valley Road. During the early years, the church did not have a permanent place of worship. Services were held in outdoors, in nearby barns and in homes of church members. Sometime in the late 1930s, the original church was razed. Today, the only remnants of the church are the cemetery and a few scat- tered limestone blocks, once part of the building's foundation. ORANGE COUNTY FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH (CIRCA 1920) West Baden Springs West Baden Springs Hotel owner Lee Sinclair donated land for the First Baptist Church, more often called the West Baden Springs Colored Baptist Church or the Negro Baptist Church. It was a more practical than phil- anthropic move that recognized the beneficial role such an institu- tion would play in the lives of his workforce, who were waiters, bell-boys and porters recruited to work at the grand hotels. The congregation built a white frame Gothic Revival church in 1920 at 8034 West Sinclair Street. During that segregated era, it became the thriving center of A frican Ameri- can social and religious culture in French Lick and West Baden. By 1991, the congregation dwindled to a single member, who donated the building to the West Baden Historical Society. When the society disbanded in 2011, it gave the church to the town of West Baden. The National Register-listed landmark appeared as one of Indiana Landmarks' An- nual 10 Most Endangered in 2014. When Rev. Anthony Toran saw the endangered announcement, he brought the situation to the atten- tion of his denominational associa- tion. As moderator of the South- eastern District Association of the Indiana Missionary Baptist State Convention, he saw an opportunity to restore and reopen the church. The West Baden Springs Town Council, owner of the church, voted to sell the church to the association of 18 congregations for $1 if the group was able to secure funding to restore and reopen it. The church is listed in the Na- tional Register of Historic Places. Because of the 10 Most Endan- gered statuses, Indiana Land- marks helped the town market the property and used a grant from the Efroymson Family Fund to commission a structural assess- ment. The study by Silver Creek Engineering, underway now, will identify structural deficiencies and estimate the costs to correct problems. Rev. Toran said that by Spring 2015, his denominational asso- ciation would create a separate nonprofit organization to own and restore the church. The group will raise money to restore the church and also rely on contributions of sweat equity from skilled members of its congregations, including electricians, carpenters, dry-wall hangers and painters. Rev. Toran noted that in addi- tion to preserving an important A frican American landmark, his Missionary Baptist District will hold religious services there on a weekly basis. OUR LADY OF THE SPRINGS (CIRCA 1887) French Lick The property was first deeded in 1887 to Bishop Chatard, of Vincennes. A new building was realized less than a year later and was used for educational and phil- anthropic purposes. The church has not changed much over the years. MARTIN COUNTY ST. MARTIN OF TOURS CATHOLIC CHURCH (CIRCA 1875) Whitfield St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church was founded November 14, 1875, when the first mass was offered in the new church by Father Guegen, of Loogootee, who had drawn the plans and supervised construction. The stone walls of the now defunct St. Rose Church at Mount Pleasant served as the foundation and basement of this new church. In 1895, St. Martin received a tract of land from Mr. and Mrs. John Downey to be used as the parish cemetery. Until this time, all had been buried at St. Rose Cemetery at Mount Pleasant. Father James Stremler, one time Chief Secretary to Pope Leo XIII, blessed the cemetery on August 25, 1895. A short five years later Father Stremler would be buried in a vault at the foot of the cross in the new cemetery. In the mid-1890s, the Whitfield Grade School, a state operated two-story frame structure was built next to the church. ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH (CIRCA 1848) Bramble A few pioneers from Kentucky and Maryland of Irish and English descent settled into the hilly area of Martin County known as Miles Settlement, about two miles east of Bramble. In 1848, Fr. Patrick Murphy was assigned by Bishop John Stephen Bazin, of Vincennes, as pastor of St. Mary's Church in Daviess County and St. Rose of Lima and Mt. Pleasant in Mar- tin County. In addition to these parishes, Fr. Murphy began hav- ing Mass in the homes of people in the locality known as Miles Settlement. Thus began the start of St. Joseph Parish. The charter families listed were Ash, Carrico, Clements, Kidwell, Miles, Queen and Strange. In 1853, Fr. Murphy began col- lecting funds for the erection of a new church. As was customary in such missions, the land immedi- ately around the church was used for a cemetery. The original site of St. Joseph's Church is now located within the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center. During Fr. Mur- phy's time, St. Joseph remained a mission of St. Mary's Church in Daviess County. On February 27, 1875, Thomas E. Bramble and his wife gave an acre to build a new church. A census taken in 1878 showed 85 families registered in St. Joseph's Parish.

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