St. Michael's Catholic Church

St. Michael’s Church Catholic Church-Baltimore

St. Michael the Archangel

Sources:

History of Baltimore City & County; John Thomas Scharf, 1881, J.B. Lippencott & Company, publishers, Philadelphia PA.

Photos of St. Michael's Church-Baltimore

1851-1977

St. Michael’s was built in 1851 at the corner of Register and Pratt Streets for the German Catholic population of that area. It was the third German parish established in Baltimore within ten years.

The cornerstone was laid on October 30, 1850 and the building completed in 1852. It was blessed by the Very Rev. Bernard Hafkenscheid, provincial of the Redemptorists and dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. The swell of immigration at the time made it necessary to construct a new church within a few years. The old cemetery of St. Patrick’s (Wolfe Street) was purchased and the bodies removed to Holy Cross Cemetery on Harford Road. The cornerstone of the new building was laid on August 2, 1857. The building was completed in 1859. The dimensions of the new church are 187 feet by 80 feet. The new church was bounded by Baltimore, Lombard, Chapel and Wolfe Sts. A residence was established at the same time and Rev. Joseph Clauss resided there, being the first superior. He was succeeded in 1865 by Rev. William Luehrmann and in 1868 Rev. Joseph Wirth was appointed rector.

As early as 1845 a school was established. At the time the first church was erected, there were 300 pupils. When the new church was built, a new school building was also erected on Lombard Street. The average attendance at that time was 1300. The school is ran by the Sisters of Notre Dame and the Marian Brothers, the SSNDs taking charge of the school in 1870.

St. Michaels’ celebrated it’s 75th Anniversary on April 24, 1927.

Saint Michael's closed in 2011

In 2016 the church was converted into a Brewery, the 'Ministry of Brewing'. Much of the historical inside was kept. See https://ministryofbrewing.com/

Recent 'Five Minute History'

Maryland Archive records M1538-M1545

We visited St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church at the corner of Wolfe Street and Lombard Street.

Priests serving St. Michael’s

1852-1855 Thaddeus Anwander

1855- Aegidius Smulders

1855-1859 Joseph Müller

1859-1865 Joseph Clauss

1865-1871 William Lührmann

1871-1873 Maximus Leimgruber

1873-1877 Peter Zimmer

1877-1880 Joseph Helmprächt

1880-1882 Joseph Clauss

1882-1886 Franz Van Emstede

1886-1893 Peter Bausch

1893-1894 Joseph Wirth

1894-1898 Peter Grein

1898-1901 John B. Leibfritz

1901-1904 Ferdinand Litz

1904-1909 John Klang

1909-1912 Charles Sigl

1912-1918 Joseph Wissel

1918-1921 Henry Otterbein

1921-1924 Peter Backe

1924- Joseph Schmidt

Church Location:

Corner of Wolfe & Lombard Streets