[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16531]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO SAINT PAUL'S EPISCOPAL

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 28, 2006

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a northern 
Michigan treasure that has enjoyed a rich legacy of community service 
and outreach.
  Next month, Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Marquette, Michigan will 
celebrate its 150th anniversary. For a century and a half, this local 
landmark has served as a place of worship for the residents of 
Marquette and the surrounding communities. The story of St. Paul's, in 
many ways, parallels the story of Marquette. As the Marquette community 
grew, so too did St. Paul's Episcopal Church, serving the community's 
spiritual needs and many of its material needs.
  Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, or simply St. Paul's as locals call 
it, can be traced back, in one form or another, to 1851, when a small 
group of some of the first settlers in Marquette, Michigan began 
holding services at various sites throughout Marquette. Some of these 
earliest services were held aboard the steamships Planet and Napoleon 
as they were anchored in Marquette's harbor.
  In 1856, St. Paul's hired its first rector. The sponsor of the first 
rector, Charles Trowbridge, stipulated that the rector would hold 
services each week at Collinsville, a community of 300 people 3 miles 
north of Marquette. One of Marquette's other early residents, Peter 
King, took on the challenge of ensuring that the rector arrived in 
Collinsville each week. This weekly trek occasionally required travel 
by dog sled.
  In August of 1856, St. Paul's Episcopal Church was incorporated into 
the City of Marquette. Work began on a wooden frame edifice at the 
location of the present church on Marquette's Ridge Street. 
Establishing a church in the frontier community of Marquette was a 
challenge, but the church was assisted by gifts from Episcopal churches 
in downstate Michigan as well as by gifts from other parishes as far 
away as New York and Boston.
  By 1874, St. Paul's and Marquette were thriving and the church had 
outgrown its original small frame church. The original St. Paul's 
structure was purchased by German Lutherans and moved two blocks away. 
Construction then began on the present-day church. On Christmas, 1875, 
the new church held its inaugural services. Since that day, St. Paul's 
has remained a prominent feature of the Marquette community.
  In 1907, St. Paul's conceived, financed and built the Guild Hall, a 
structure that many say was the first community building erected in 
Marquette. Built under the leadership of the Reverend Bates Burt, the 
Guild Hall provided a meeting place for the people of Marquette. The 
Guild Hall housed a reading room, an assembly room, a stage and 
recreation facilities including a swimming pool, gymnasium, billiard 
tables and bowling alley. In the words of Reverend Burt, the Guild Hall 
was meant to ``provide facilities where people could meet and work in a 
social way, a clubhouse for the Parish where it could do efficient work 
not once in seven days, but every day.''
  Today, St. Paul's Episcopal Church remains an important part of the 
fabric of the Marquette community. The church actively supports Habitat 
for Humanity and works to provide medical care for the uninsured 
through the Medical Care Access Coalition. The church operates the Camp 
New Day Upper Peninsula Program, which provides urban children of 
residents of the State's penal institutions with a recreational 
experience in Michigan's north woods. The church has reached out beyond 
its borders to provide support for at-risk children in places as far 
away as Honduras, Haiti and the Sudan and to provide an annual market 
for third world craftspeople.
  Mr. Speaker, the spirit and philosophy of St. Paul's Episcopal Church 
is reflected in its motto: Gathered by Grace; Sent Forth to Serve. 
Since those early days aboard steamships in Marquette's harbor to its 
current location at Ridge Street, St. Paul's has lived by that motto, 
serving as a spiritual foundation and community anchor for the people 
of Marquette. As its members prepare to celebrate the 150th anniversary 
of St. Paul's Episcopal Church I would ask, Mr. Speaker, that you and 
the entire U.S. House of Representatives join me in celebrating the 
church's many contributions to the Marquette community and in paying 
tribute to the rich historical legacy of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 
its members and many acts of faith.

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