Judging by the vehicle in the lower left corner, the archival photo was taken sometime in the 1950s.

This is the former St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, located on Quincy Street, in Hancock. The building on the left is the parish rectory. Walt’s Gas For Less is in the right foreground.

The church was built around 1885 to serve German and French-Canadian Catholics. After a fire destroyed the Irish-Catholic parish church of St. Patrick in 1937, the Diocese of Marquette merged the two parishes and the church in the photograph became the St. Joseph-St. Patrick Catholic Church. A third parish, Mt. Carmel, was located on Quincy Hill. When the Church of the Resurrection was dedicated in 1976, all three parishes were merged into the new parish and the St. Joseph-St. Patrick Church was closed.

It was subsequently purchased by Suomi College (Now Finlandia University) and is today the Finnish-American Heritage Center.

Reader responses:

My husband and I were married in that church in 1967.

— Barbara Morin

St Joseph St Patrick’s church. And rectory. This is located on Quincy St in Hancock next to the old Hancock Central High School where I graduated! I was baptized there. My parents were married there and my fathers funeral mass was held there!

— Alice Walker

The picture is the old St. Joseph/Patrick church on Quincy Street in Hancock. Also, in the picture is the rectory and I think the empty space is where the school used to be.

Although I didn’t grow up in Hancock, I spent loads of time there visiting my grandparents. Some of my memories:

My parents were married there in 1943 – I have pictures of the inside

My uncle said his 1st mass there 1944 or 1945 – I have pictures of that too

We went to church there every Sunday when we visited and had to sit in the front row because that’s were my grandma always sat. A bit of a challenge for us 6 kids to behave

I also remember going into the rectory to visit with Fr. Borguria (spelling), the pastor.

Celebrated a mass for my grandparents 50 anniversary there in 1969

— Ursie Hartman