| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
ONE OF FEW AMERIND MISSIONARY CHURCHES LEFT IN CHIPPEWA VALLEY. OLDEST CHURCH IN RUSK CO. CENTER ENTRANCE STEEPLE TOPPED BY BELFRY W/ PAVILION SPIRE ROSE WINDOW IN STEEPLE TRANSOMED DOOR. BUILT ON SITE OF INDIAN VILLAGE. SEE NRHP PRELIMINARY FORM.
In the years after the Civil War, when many of Wisconsin’s Ojibwe (Chippewa) people moved to the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation, the St. Croix Band remained scattered along the St. Croix River. Largely isolated from Euro-American encroachment, they did not sign treaties ceding their lands and received no annuities. Even after Euro-American loggers moved into the area, the members of this band continued to hunt and fish here.
The Flambeau Mission Church attests to the Catholic missionary efforts among the Ojibwe. Franciscan friar Chrysostom Verwyst, who preached in the Ojibwe language, confirmed some seventy Ojibwes, mostly adults, at the building’s dedication. The church remains intact, but the settlement of native people dwindled, replaced only by transient loggers.
Nonetheless, friars Chrysostom and Casimir Vogt oversaw the creation of a simple vernacular church. It overlooks the Chippewa River near its confluence with the Flambeau River, and its reflection in the water multiplies its charm. The original plain building is a small, clapboard structure with a front-facing gable. Its simple wooden trim, wooden pews (extant in the balcony), and six-over-six windows are among its spare features. The small six-light sashes below the windows reverse the usual transom pattern. Local carpenter Thomas Orthman constructed the building, as well as a 1884 addition, which was recently replaced. In 1903, Gust Dakota added the two-stage bell tower, ornamenting it with a wheel window and crowning it with a conical-roofed belfry. The clipped gable ends below the cone add complexity to the otherwise simple design. Inside, Dakota probably added the decorative wooden balcony above the entry.
The cemetery east of the church contains the stone markers on the graves of dozens of early parishioners, along with the wooden crosses designating Ojibwe converts. |
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