Originally organized in 1854, the current First Presbyterian Church dates from 1911, sitting at the corner of 7th and Jules streets.
Edmond Jacques Eckel, perhaps the most famed, talented and ubiquitous architect in St. Joseph, as well as a collaborator Walter Boschen, designed the church.
It’s a nice example of the Colonial Revival with a bit of English Rococo thrown in.
The interior continues the same architectural style, with Corinthian columns holding up simple groin vaulting springing from square entablatures.
Across town in a more working class neighborhood is the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is no longer a parish church.
Its past seems to be difficult to figure out, but it is a huge church, and there are some ancillary buildings surviving around it.
Regardless, it’s a huge church I would date to sometime in the 1880s or 90s, judging from its architecture.
This nice house next door must have been the rectory, but it seems to be abandoned.
Google satellite and StreetView reveals there was a building in between the rectory and what was most certainly the parish school, which is in great shape and of unknown occupancy.
The neighborhood has some beautiful housing (look at that cornice!) and I hope that maybe some redevelopment can come soon.
The last church is also a bit of an enigma, showing signs of a fire that struck it recently.
Apparently built as the Olive Street Baptist Church, it then was the Maranatha Bible Church. It is a unique building and I hope it can be saved.
