Located on Highway 29 in Western Wisconsin, St. Matthews Lutheran Church was built in 1897 to serve the local German speaking Lutherans. The church was originally named St. Matthaeus Evangelisch Lutherische Kirche. Each hour the church has music sounding which is heard at a fair distance through the countryside. I wonder what music it will play to melt the snow and let spring arrive.
St. Matthews Lutheran Church
In the rolling hills of Iowa County in Wisconsin, and originally known as the Mill Creek Church, the Hyde Chapel was built in 1862. Notes in records stated, “no place needed a church and preaching more than did the Mill Creek Valley”. Whether they needed preaching or not, the people of the valley held a meeting at which they “unanimously resolved to build a house for public worship if they in any way could” and they did build their church.
The Covenant and Confession of Faith by the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches of Wisconsin were adopted but the church was always open to people of various faiths and Congregationalists, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists and Catholics are buried in the adjacent cemetery.
The Hyde Congregational Church continued until 1957 when it was disbanded and the church doors were thus closed except for the occasional funeral. Although it appeared the church would fall into decay, a non-profit corporation, the Hyde Community Association, was formed to preserve and maintain the Hyde Church as a historical landmark and memorial to the pioneers of the community in 1966 and inducted into the National Registry of Historic Places on October 13, 1988.
Hyde Chapel
I had been posting churches on Sunday and they have been winter scenes and I wondered if winter is hanging on because it thought I liked winter church scenes so I am posting a summer church scene instead as I am ready for spring.
In the unincorporated village of Calamine in southwestern Wisconsin, St. Michael’s Catholic Church sits beautifully on a hillside and was built in 1916.
St. Michael’s Catholic Church
I will admit that I am prejudiced. And since it is the Lenten season and one is supposed to change bad habits. But I don’t think I will get over my prejudice too easily. I have seen this church in the summer and the church shines whiter next to green grass compared to the white snow and after this long winter, my prejudice against snow might not be easy to overcome.
The cold winter did bring a large crowd to this small village of Cornucopia on the south shore of Lake Superior as visitors flocked to view the ice caves so some may have seen this church, established in 1909, with an enclosed bell tower and a small onion dome. The founders of St. Mary Orthodox Church were Eastern European immigrants who settled in Northern Wisconsin because of the good farming conditions and employment in the logging industry.
And for all those who have been praying for more snow, stop it! It is time to let spring to come!
St. Mary Orthodox Church
I try, when I can, find information on the subjects I photograph and the first thing I found about this church once I knew its name was that the church had a 1928 Hinners Organ. St. Katherine Evangelical Lutheran Church, near Rusk, Wisconsin, was organized on February 9, 1878 and the church was completed in August of that year. Its original name was The Evangelical Lutheran St. Katherine Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
But the more interesting story is the company that made the organ. The Hinners Organ was dedicated to the manufacture of pipe organs for smaller churches and enjoyed much success from its conception in May 1879. It depended entirely on a catalog as the company employed no salesmen, and therefore it was able to sell its organs at a very reasonable price.
The Great Depression played a big part in the company’s demise, but with the lack of salesmen, the company lost contact with its market developments and the need of larger organs for city churches and theaters. Disagreements among the owners about building bigger organs spelled doom for the Hinners Company and the company dissolved in October 1942.
St. Katherine Church
The two common events of this winter seems to be cloudy and snowy or sunny and frigid. And I don’t know which is the greater evil since one means messy roads and lots of shoveling and the other means high energy bills and frozen pipes. It might be pretty to some but I’m ready to see some pretty spring flowers.
The cold sun is shining above Norton Lutheran Church between Wheeler and Colfax, Wisconsin, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in September 2011.
Norton Lutheran Church
On Oct. 1, 1665, Jesuit Father Claude Allouez and Father Jacques Marquette arrived on Chequamegon Bay, La Pointe, and established the mission of the Holy Spirit. This was the first Catholic church/chapel anywhere on the North American continent north of New Mexico and west of Lake Huron.
On July 17, 1835, Fr. Frederic Baraga, the famed “snowshoe priest”, came to La Pointe on Madeline Island and re-established the Catholic mission, at the site of the La Pointe Indian Cemetery. Although the mission building is no longer extant, the old cemetery that remains is the burial place of Chief Buffalo, an important Chippewa leader.
With a congregation dating back to 1838, it is the oldest continuous Catholic parish in Wisconsin. The first St. Joseph church was built of logs and burned down in 1901 and the current church was rebuilt in 1902.
St. Joseph’s Church on Madeline Island
I’m not sure who is praying for snow and cold but I wished they would stop, especially the cold part with the propane and natural gas shortage. I think there are a lot of people in the area praying for warmer temperatures.
Praying for Warmer Temperatures
Since it is Sunday, a picture of a rural church just might be the appropriate picture for today. The sunset the other night wasn’t very speculator but instead the clouds to east collected the pink glow from the setting sun. I always love the hue the setting sun puts on the landscape and fields.
Rural Church on Pink Evening
