Church of Our Saviour, Friend of Children

Church of Our Saviour, Friend of Children
Location North Shore Rd., Payment Settlement on Sugar Island, near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Coordinates 46°31′45″N 84°9′4″W / 46.52917°N 84.15111°WCoordinates: 46°31′45″N 84°9′4″W / 46.52917°N 84.15111°W
Built 1856-57
Built by Michael G. Payment
Governing body Private
NRHP Reference # 82002831[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP July 08, 1982
Designated MSHS January 19, 1978[2]

Church of Our Saviour, Friend of Children, also known as Holy Angels Roman Catholic Church, is a church located on North Shore Road on Sugar Island, near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1978[2] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1]

History

Michael G. Payment was born in Montreal in 1814.[3] In 1827 he moved to Detroit and became involved in business.[3] He soon was put in charge of cargo shipments, in which capacity he traded goods with Indians.[3] In 1845, Payment moved to Sugar Island and established a small settlement, known at the time as "Payment's Landing" or "Payment Settlement."[2] Payment undertook trade with the local Ojibwe people, establishing a successful trading post. Beginning in 1853, Bishop Frederic Baraga was a frequent visitor to the settlement, and in 1856 Baraga purchased lumber and requested that Michael Payment construct a church at the site. Payment complied, and the building was completed in 1857.[2]

Michael Payment returned to Detroit in 1874,[3] but regular services were held at the church[4] until it closed in 1953.[2] The church reopened in 1982 for services in the summer.[2] It is the last remaining structure from Payment's Landing.[2]

Description

Church of Our Saviour, Friend of Children is a single story frame structure sitting on a fieldstone foundation. The exterior was originally clad in clapboard, but at some time weatherboarding was installed over the original siding.[2] The church has a gable roof with a square, pyrimidal-roofed belfry at the top. Each side has three windows, and one end has an entry portico below a plain wooden cross.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 State of Michigan (2009). "Church of Our Saviour, Friend of Children". Historic Sites Online. Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Barnard, F. A. (1878). American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-Made Men: Michigan Volume, Part 1. Western Biographical Publishing. p. 112.
  4. ↑ "Sacred Heart, Sugar Island". Diocese of Marquette. Retrieved April 22, 2012.