St. Joseph the Worker, Wyoming

225 - 32nd ST SW

formerly at 337 Rumsey St SW

Ancona

Only the Rumsey location is covered on this website

^{Grant Addition 1863   This map was drawn upside down and backwards by modern standards.}

St. Joseph the Worker Parish was established in 1887. This was the fifth Roman Catholic Church in Grand Rapids
It was the only Dutch language Roman Catholic Church in the United States.^Ancona It was named for the patron of labor
and protector of the poor. ^GRACH

^GRACH  Combination church/school in 1888. Bldg #2 in assessor's records

^GRACH Father Frencken in front of the rectory in 1895. Bldg #4 in assessor's records.

City Assessor's 1941

^{Site plan       GRACH} in 1938

   Bldg #2  The pre-fire church/school combined

   Rectory Bldg #4

    Garage Bldg #3

   Convent Bldg #5

  Sisters' house Bldg # 1

I have to admit that the assessor's photos show the adjoining buildings but they don't seem to match.
The building to the left of the rectory looks more like the Convent than the church. The building to the left of the sister's house has a ton of gingerbread on it which doesn't match anything. Well since that was 70 years ago -------------.

1943 - Fire

^GRACH The church/school from the rear

1948 - First Hispanic baptism and St. Joseph's would become the first Hispanic parish in the diocese.

1952 - Church rebuilt with material salvaged from the fire.

^GRACH

1970 - School closes^Ancona

   "St Joseph's now also serves as the center for Latin American Catholics in the Grand Rapids area. The church contains shrines honoring both Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Guadalupe. ^GRPLVF

St. Joseph moves to the suburbs.

2010 All around

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Copyright © 2006 My Grand Rapids
Last modified: 08/05/11