St. Michael Catholic Church, built in 1858-1859, was the second Roman Catholic Church built in Cannelton and the ninth in Perry County; it is now the oldest Catholic Church in the county. St. Patrick’s, a 40 X 25 foot stone chapel, had been built in the summer of 1850 two blocks to the northwest on Seventh Street; it was razed by 1888, four years after the second St. Patrick’s was put into use at the corner of Sixth and Adams Streets.
On 28 February 1858 the German-speaking half of St. Patrick’s congregation, numbering around 315, obtained permission from Bishop Maurice de St. Palais to build St. Michael’s. The cornerstone was laid on 13 June 1858 and the First Mass was celebrated in the unfinished structure on 19 June 1859.
The stone for the walls was quarried from the cliffs immediately to the east of the site. The walls, ranging in thickness from 41 to 30 inches, consist of exterior and interior stone veneers with the space between filled with loose chips and fragments of stone.
The floor dimensions are 125 X 55 feet with the nave rising to a height of 45 feet above the main floor. A tower of 125 feet was originally planned, but the resulting frame tower, 156 feet in height, is said to be a less costly substitute.
The steeple was completed in September 1860 and the cross was mounted on 30 September. The first of eventually three clocks was also installed during the following week; it was designed by brothers John and James Nicolay, parishioners of St. Michael’s. This and the two later clocks of 1877 and 1981 have always been owned and serviced by the town.
On 12 November 1992, 50-mile-per-hour winds severely damaged the roof shingles. Repairs began in early 1994. In 1997 the parish contributed to repairs to the city-owned clock in the tower.
Slate was the material generally used for the roof until 1951 when heavy asphalt shingles were substituted. In the winter of 1953-54 the original wooden floor was replaced with the present one of concrete and steel. At this same time the original plank pews were replaced with the present pews obtained from the just abandoned St. Paul Church in Tell City. These shaped oak pews had been purchased new in 1906.
The original altars were simple bases with tabernacles but without altar pieces or reredoses. In July 1898 the present high altar was given anonymously by Peter and Anna Clemens; this accounts for the statues of SS. Peter and Anne on the altar. The wooden statue of St. Michael was repainted at this time.
In December 1902 St. Patrick’s Church was closed and the two congregations numbering nearly 700 were combined as St. Michael’s from that time.
Minimal electric lighting had been installed in the mid-1890s. A major innovation was the installation of steam heating in 1904, still in use today. A new chimney was built on the northwest wall in order to accommodate the required enlarged coal-fired furnace. The chimney was lowered in height in November 1985 because of the development of a dangerous leaning.
The period of 1926-27 marks the greatest single renovation in St. Michael’s history. This included a new slate roof, new windows, new stations of the cross, complete interior redecorating and the conversion of the basement into a chapel with the Lourdes Grotto adjoining. The lighting had already been greatly improved in 1920 and the first electric pipe organ had been installed in 1921.
These two improvements, the high altar and the stained-glass window behind the high altar were the only major features not affected in this 1926-27 renovation.
The two side altars in the style of the high altar were donated at this time by Henry Bosquet of Louisville, Henry M. and Anthony P. Clemens, the last two being some of Peter and Anna Clemens. The new side windows cost $400.00 each and the names of the individual and organizational donors and/or names of persons memorialized are on the windows. Four of them memorialize former pastors deceased by 1927: Fathers Michael Marendt (1855-1871), Edward M. Faller (1871-1878), Michael L. Guthneck (1878-1885) and John W. Book (1886-1898).
The symbols on the ventilator covers in the center aisle, the stenciled borders on the ceiling and the words, “O Salutaris Hostia,” were painted in 1926-27 and have been preserved through refurbishings in 1958 and 1977.
Appropriately, the principal statue in the Church, that of St. Michael, is of the most unique construction; one piece of wood except for the spear. The detailed features are formed of plaster. All the other statues in the Church are entirely of cast plaster.
The three statues of St. Michael, the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph on the three altars may have been in place on the top of the tabernacles from the beginning of the church in 1859 or 1960; if not, then from no later than 1871 when Father Faller began extensive improvements and additions at his own expense. Two smaller statues of angels stood on wall pedestals on each side of the original main altar until removed in the 1926-27 renovation. The two angels presently on independent floor pedestals were in position at least by 1923, joining the smaller angels until 1926.
The statues of St. Anthony and of the Sacred Heart have been in the church since at least 1900 and possibly since 1871.
In the early 1920s statues of St. Rita and of St. Therese of the Little Flower were placed at each end of the communion rail. From 1927 until 1977 they stood with individual votive stands at the front pillars; St. Rita on the Blessed Virgin side and St. Therese on the St. Joseph side. They were then removed to the basement.. A plaster repliva of a Michalangelo Pieta was removed from the rear on the Blessed Virgin side to the basement in 1958. This had been a donation by parishioner Anthony Kroeger, a statue salesman in the 1920s. In mid-2000 all three statues were returned to the rear of the main floor.
In 1927 the Lourdes Grotto was constructed of stones from the neighboring hillside by Robert G. Rutherford under the direction of Father Edward Hilger.
Between 1869 and 1914 living quarters for the teaching nuns were located in the grotto area of the basement and behind. Franciscan nuns taught between 1869 and 1886; Benedictine nuns from Ferdinand and Beech Grove, Indiana, taught from that year until 1977. Relations between St. Michael’s and the Benedictine nuns were maintained through the 1980s in the person of the pastoral assistant.
School classes were conducted in the church basement between 1869 and 1888. From 1888 until 1914 classes were conducted on the first floor of St. John’s School which had been constructed on and slightly uphill from the site of the present Parish Center. When a 60-year-old coal mine shifted under the uphill end of St. John’s in March 1914 classes were quickly removed to the newly vacated Colored School at Sixth and Congress Streets near the Free School (Myers Grade School.)
St. John’s was razed in May 1914 and the convent was built and ready for occupancy by the autumn of 1914. Classes again met in the church basement in 1914-1915 while the new St. Michael School was being built. From September 1915 until the present both these supplementary parish buildings have remained in continuous worthwhile service.
A frame rectory constructed in 1853 near the first St. Patrick’s on Seventh Street remained in use until 1871 when Father Faller had a two-story yellow brick rectory built just uphill from the church. This was used until 1973 and was razed in August 1981.
The current appearance of St. Michael’s dates from 1977. In that year the communion rail was removed as were the statues of SS. Rita and Therese. Decorative lights around the altar angels were also removed. The walls and altars were painted, carpeting was installed and the present altar with the canopy of lights above were added at that time.
In 1986 the Reconciliation Room was constructed utilizing the original confessional in the exterior wall. The companion original confessional is yet in place at the rear of the St. Joseph side of the church.
In October 1991 the bell tower was repaired and restored. Aluminum louvers replaced the wooden ones. The rose window was covered with plexiglass.
Remodeling of Father Marendt Hall began in January 2001. The ceiling was lowered to cover the previously exposed plumbing and heating pipes; the restrooms were improved; new walls were installed and painted with a wainscot of wallpaper; the floor was carpeted; air-conditioning was installed; a new exterior door was added. The dedication ceremony was conducted after Mass on Sunday, April 29, 2001.
In March 2002, electronic bells with Melodic chimes replaced those of the clock of 1981.
On Sunday, 17 March 2002, a statue of St. Patrick, which was crafted in Spain, was blessed. It is placed in Father Marendt Hall as a reminder that Cannelton had at one time two Catholic parishes, St. Michael and St. Patrick.
In June 2005 Cannelton City Schools, which had conducted
kindergarten and early elementary classes in St. Michael School
since 1963, moved them to the former bank building at Fourth
and Washington Streets. Any future for this building is yet to be determined.
In February 2009 a downdraft from the tower spread chimney smoke throughout the church and Father Marendt Hall. Cooperation between the insurance-paid cleaning crew and the redecorating paint crew allowed the use of the scaffold by both crews in each of the four settings from the rear to the front of the church. By mid-July 2008 the church was ready for regular usage in the brighter colors of the restoration decorating. The electrical rewiring of the church was completed by this time.
Remodeling the sacristy is next in the planned restoration.
-Michael Rutherford
