The Mission Church is a historic Congregational church located at the corner of Huron and Tuscott Streets on Mackinac Island, Michigan, United States. It was built in 1829 and is the oldest church building still standing in the state of Michigan. In 1971, the Mission Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The parish of Sainte Anne Church (Mackinac Island) was organized earlier, as the island had a historic French and Metis population before Anglo-American settlers arrived. Sainte Anne’s original building was replaced with a new one in 1874. This new building is still in use today.

Description

The Mission Church was built in the New England Colonial church style. It is a one-and-a-half-story rectangular building made of wood, resting on a stone foundation covered with plaster. The outside is protected by clapboard siding. The main structure uses strong wooden beams, and the inside walls are covered with plaster. The front of the church has a large double door in the center, and a square tower with an eight-sided belfry stands above it. The roof is covered with wooden shingles.

History

French Jesuits started a mission for the Ottawa people in this area during the 17th century. After the Jesuits were no longer allowed to operate in Canada in the late 18th century, the church did not have a permanent priest. The wooden church building was moved from Fort Michilimackinac to Mackinac Island between 1780 and 1781 by British orders. This Sainte Anne Church was used by French and Métis residents, who made up most of the permanent population in the early 1800s. These people were often connected to the fur trade. For many years, the church did not have a permanent priest, but members of the church kept the congregation active. Magdelaine Laframboise, a well-known Métis fur trader, gave land near her home for the church when it needed a new location. In 1874, a new Sainte Anne Church was built there, and it is still used today.

The first permanent Christian religious leader on Mackinac Island was David Bacon, who lived there briefly starting in 1802. After the War of 1812 ended, more Anglo-American people moved to the island and surrounding areas. In 1821, Jedidiah Morse, the father of Samuel F. B. Morse, is said to have preached on the island on a Sunday. He later encouraged the creation of a permanent Protestant mission on the island.

In 1823, missionaries William Montague Ferry and his wife Amanda started a Protestant mission on the southeast corner of Mackinac Island, now called Mission Point. This mission focused on teaching Native American children and accepted students from across the Great Lakes region. In 1825, they built a boardinghouse and school at the site, and for a time, the schoolroom was also used as a chapel. During the winter of 1828–29, the number of people in the church grew quickly, increasing from 19 to 52 members. Soon, churchgoers included people like Robert Stuart, a leader in the American Fur Company; Henry Schoolcraft, a geographer and ethnographer married to Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, an English-Ojibwe woman; and Martin Heydenburk, a carpenter. Between 1829 and 1830, the congregation built the church. Heydenburk and others cut and prepared wood on the mainland, brought it to the island, and completed the church during the winter. The church was officially dedicated on March 4, 1831.

The congregation grew to about 80 members. However, changes happened on the island. The American Fur Company left as the fur trade declined in the 1830s. The Native American tribes the mission served were moved west of the Mississippi River. The mission and its church congregation declined. The Ferrys left Mackinac Island in 1834, and the mission closed in 1837. In 1838, the mission property, including the church, was sold to a private owner.

The church was used for political meetings, plays, and sometimes for church services. In 1870, it was repaired and temporarily used by the Catholic Church for services until the current Sainte Anne Church was built in 1874. The building continued to fall into poor condition.

In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a summer vacation spot for people from cities like Chicago and later Detroit. The Grand Hotel was built in 1887. The large number of summer visitors made it hard for the island’s small Protestant congregation to use the church. In 1894, a group of residents bought the church for nondenominational services, restored it, and opened it in the summer of 1895.

For many years, the church was used for Protestant services, mainly in the summer. The Mackinac Island State Park Commission bought the building in 1955 and made some repairs. In the 1980s, the church was restored in detail. As of 2012, the church is open to the public every day during the summer and can be rented for weddings.

• Mission Church, c. 1895
• Front of church in 1936
• c. 1900