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.