File:Sacred Heart Church was the first Catholic church in the Calumet area, established in 1868. Early on, people from a wide variety (3bdf6302-1dd8-b71b-0b87-858bf85a378e).jpg

Historical photo overlaid onto a present day photo

Sacred Heart Church was the first Catholic church in the Calumet area, established in 1868. Early on, people from a wide variety of ethnic groups made up the congregation. They met in a frame church built on land leased from the Hecla Mining Company. As the congregation and the surrounding community grew, several ethnic groups broke away to form their own congregations, including French-Canadians, Poles, Slovenians, Croatians, and Italians. Soon, Sacred Heart represented primarily Irish and German Catholics. Even as new parishes were established, Sacred Heart's congregation continued to grow. Construction began on a new Portage Entry sandstone church in 1897, and the facility was dedicated the following year. The new church was one of the largest in the Copper Country. Its steeple reached 125 feet into the sky, while its facade was enhanced by three Gothic-style entrances which allowed ample access to the 1,300-seat nave. A winter chapel at the rear of the building seated an additional 100 people. The plain exterior of the building belied its highly ornamented interior. Destroyed in a flash-fire just 45 minutes after the Saturday Vigil Mass on August 13, 1983, the sandstone Sacred Heart church is #MissingintheCopperCountry while a new building completed in 1986 occupies its former site.