Historic St's Mary and Joseph Church - Sawyer MN
Posted by: 
lenron
N 46° 41.035 W 092° 38.121
15T E 527885 N 5170104
Historic Native American Church in Sawyer MN.
Waymark Code: WMYYX8
Location: Minnesota, United States
Date Posted: 08/13/2018
Views: 0
Down a road appropriately called Mission on the Fond du Lac Reservation of the Lake Superior band of Chippewa, the Sawyer Log Church sits on a grassy knoll at the edge of a northern Minnesota hardwood forest. Built in 1884 by Chippewa parishioners, it is the second oldest church structure in the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota and one of the few remaining historic buildings in Carlton County not destroyed in the widespread fires of 1918. Often called The Sawyer Log Church, it has also been referred to as The Church in the Woods and The Guardian Angel Mission Church and it is a designated national historical site.
History
The land for The Log Church was donated by Angus Robideau, a Chippewa band member who gave the property to the Native America congregation in Sawyer. Another band member and elder of the church, Moses Posey, is credited with building the original structure. Father Casimir Vogt, a Franciscan missionary priest who had ministered to the Fond du Lac community since 1882, supported, encouraged, and helped with the project. Annexes to the original church were added in the 1920s and again in the 1940s. With the additions to the back, and sides of the church, the building now forms a cross. (see Log Church Dimensions)
Significance
Establishing an actual church at Sawyer was important for the Catholic Church and the
Fond du Lac Community. Missionaries, including Father FrederickSt. Kateri/ Baraga from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan who visited the Fond du Lac community in 1835, had serviced the area. However, until the log church was constructed half a century later, services were held in local homes.
The Sawyer Log Church signifies a mix of Native American initiative and Catholic mission effort. The building is an important marker in the history of Catholicism among the Native Americans of Northern Minnesota. Also, the church is a notable landmark in the broad history of Catholic mission activity in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Valley.
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