''Old St. Mary's Church'' in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

was built in 1846 and 1847. The parish was founded a year earlier, by German Catholic immigrants. It was the proto-German church of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The city had been incorporated only the year before, and Wisconsin had not yet become a state. Old St. Mary's is the oldest church still standing in the city. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973.

Description

The church was designed by Victor Schulte, a

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n immigrant from

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

. Schulte designed the church in Zopfstil style, a German counterpart of the American

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

, which was probably familiar to German immigrants in the parish. Hallmarks of the style are the low-pitched roof, the round-topped windows, and a neat simplicity that contrasted with

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

styles. Schulte also designed Milwaukee's St. John Cathedral (built 1847-53) and the 1850 Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the same style. The cornerstone was laid on April 19, 1846.Avella, Steven. "Old St. Mary Church", ''Encyclopedia of Milwaukee'', UMW
/ref> The building is constructed of

cream city brick Cream City brick is a cream or light yellow-colored brick made from a clay found around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the Menomonee River Valley and on the western banks of Lake Michigan. These bricks were one of the most common building materials u ...

. The carved wooden high altar was purchased in 1848. A painting of the

Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...

behind the altar by Franz Xavier Glink was donated by King

Ludwig I of Bavaria en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...

. The church's tower gained a clock in 1860 and three bells in 1868. These bronze bells were cast in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. St. Mary's was modified fairly extensively from 1866 to 1867, again under direction of Victor Schulte. Before that, what is now the main worship space was split into two floors: a short first story which housed the parish school's classrooms, and a taller main level where

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

was conducted. In 1866 the parish built a separate school building and eliminated the lower classroom level of the church building, lowering the floor of the main worship space. The east end was extended and the west facade was reworked, with a new spire added in 1866. The church bells were hung in 1868. The interior was redecorated after a fire in 1893, but the exterior still stands very much as it did right after the 1867 remodeling, two years after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. With the arrival of a number of Cuban emigres to the parish, a statue of the Cuban Madonna, Our Lady of Charity, was installed in the church.

Notes

External links

Parish website
{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Roman Catholic churches in Milwaukee Roman Catholic churches completed in 1847 1847 establishments in Wisconsin Territory National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States