St. Gertrude Roman Catholic Church

St. Gertrude Roman Catholic Church. Southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and L'Anse Street. , The history of St. Gertrude Roman Catholic Church dates back to October 1826 when Father Pierre Dejean built a church for the families of the L'Anse Creuse area. The original log church, dedicated to St. Felicity, was forty feet long by thirty feet wide and stood on the shore of the bay at the end of the Rattell farm. , , Father Dejean served the area until 1829. He was replaced by Father Ghislenus J. Boheme, a Belgian priest, who was the spiritual shepherd of the Catholic families in this area until 1842. Because of rising lake levels, the church was abandoned in 1855. It sank into the lake in 1856. In 1858, the mission chapel was rebuilt on Jefferson Avenue on land bought from the Vernier family and was renamed St. Gertrude. , , In 1897, the cornerstone of the white wood and stone church was laid. This church served the needs of the parish until it was razed in 1968. In 1900, Father John D. O'Shea was appointed the first resident Pastor. He is remembered as a saintly and hard working priest who built the school, convent and rectory and purchased most of the parish's land. , , The school opened on November 18, 1920 under the care of the Dominican Sisters from Springfield, Illinois. In 1927, the Sisters of St. Joseph took charge of the school. St. Gertrude High School opened in 1947. , , On December 21, 1969, Archbishop John Cardinal Dearden dedicated the new church and rectory and Auxiliary Bishop Walter J. Schoenherr blessed the altar. , , St. Gertrude Elementary and High School closed in 1971. The Sisters of St. Joseph cared for both schools until their closure. , , On July 1, 2009, St. Gertrude Parish merged with St. Germaine Parish to form Our Lady of Hope Parish. , , Both churches continued to operate under their original names until June 2014. , , On March 13, 2014, Archbishop Allen Vigneron issued a decree relegating St. Gertrude Church to "profane but not sordid use" after the Archdiocese of Detroit received an offer of $1.6 million for the campus property. The decree, which took legal effect on June 30, meant that the building would no longer be used as a worship site. , , With the closing of the doors of St. Gertrude Church, the saga of the mission that was founded in 1826 has taken a new direction. As of 2017, Lakeshore Senior Living residential community occupies the site. , , Top left image caption: St. Gertrude Church 1897-1968 , , Top right image caption: Ecclesia St. Gertudis , , Middle left image caption: Father O'Shea and School Children , , Middle right image caption: High School , 1947-1971 , , Bottom left image caption: Altar in St. Gertrude , 1959 , , Bottom right image caption: Church of St. Gertrude 1969-2014