Portland St. Patrick: General Collection
Abstract
This collection contains a wide array of documents pertaining to Portland St. Patrick Parish and its history. Every aspect of parish life is represent in some capacity including the lives of the pastors and parishioners, academics, athletics, and even the expansion of parish buildings and grounds. This impressive collection spans St. Patrick Parish’s history; from 1878 to the present.
Collection #: 1
Span: 1878-Present
Size:3 cubic feet
History
In 1878 Fr. Charles G. Bolte of Ionia was authorized by Bishop Borgess of Detroit to build a church at Portland; this church would become St. Patrick Parish. Fr. Bolte came to Portland to hold mass on an irregular basis. In 1899 Fr. Mathias Auer was named the first pastor at St. Patrick Parish. In 1906 the first school was built and taught up to eighth grade and in 1927 the current church was built. In 1951 Fr. Louis Flohe built a new school and in 1961 and addition built. With this addition St. Patrick School began to offer K-12 education. Fr. Flohe purchased much of the land owned by the parish today during his tenure as pastor. In 2002 the final addition to the school was built.
St. Patrick School has enjoyed some success in athletics. The girls basketball team has won six state championships and six runner runner-up titles. The softball, golf, and football programs have also won state championships and six individuals from St. Patrick School have won a state championship.
Scope and Content
This collection includes documents of a wide array of topics pertaining to Portland St. Patrick Parish. The news and evolution of the parish and school make up most of the collection. The rest of the collection is dedicated primarily to parishioners, financial news, and diocesan news.
For the most part this collection has impressive depth. Major parish events, such as new buildings or additions, capitol campaigns, and parish anniversaries are well documented. There are a large number of photos from the 1990s and early 2000s but photos from before this time are surprisingly well represented. For example, numerous photos of the building and dedication of the church are present. The gathering of parish newsletters and bulletins is lacking but this is to some degree made up with ample newspaper clippings throughout the parish’s history. A series of scrapbooks is also included that provides a very in depth look at the parish, primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, through pictures and newspaper clippings.
This collection includes a wide array of primary source documents that would be of great help for one writing a history of St. Patrick Parish or simply one who wishes to learn more of the history of the parish. Furthermore, the ample documents related to parish buildings would be of value to one researching religious architectural tendencies and the documentations of parishioners through the years could greatly benefit an armature genealogist.
Any documents labeled ADGR were originally found at the Archive of the Diocese of Grand Rapids and the original copy of those documents can be found there with the code listed on the individual documents. Additional documents pertaining to St. Patrick Parish may be found at the Diocese of Detroit, the Diocese of Lansing, or the Portland R & O.
Contents
BoxFolderDescription
11Academics
Clergy
12Clergy News
13Mass Booklets
Duplicates
220Duplicates
221History Duplicates
Financial
14Financial Pre-1930
15Financial 1930-1969
16Financial 1970-Present
17Parish Purchases
Histories
18Parish Histories
19Local Histories
110Military
Parish Anniversaries
111Parish Anniversaries
41Golden Year Calendar Oversized
Parish Buildings and Grounds
112Pre-1927 Church
1131906 School
114Church Architect Conflict
115Church Architectural Specs
1161927 Church
117Church Sketches
42School Addition Proposal Oversized
1181951 School
1191961 School Addition
1201961 School Addition Financial Campaign
121Parish Rectory
122Church Windows
123Parish Office
124Church Photos P. 1
125Church Photos P. 2
126Church Photos P. 3
127Church Photos P. 4
128Parish Grounds
Parish Directories
3Parish Directories
129Photos for Directories
Parish Events
130Events Pre-1960
131Events 1960-1989
132Events 1990-Present
133Parish Festival
Parishioners
134Parishioners Pre-1990
135Parishioners 1990-Present
136Parishioners Photos P. 1
137Parishioners Photos P. 2
138Theater 2000-2006
139Theater 2007-Present
Parish News
140Parish Reports
141St. Patrick’s Watchman
142Bulletins
143Principal Letters
Pastors and Assistants
21Bolte Pre-1899
22Auer 1899-1908
43Auer Oversized
23Koelzer 1908-1920
44Koelzer Oversized
24Griffin 1920-1922
45Griffin Oversized
25O’Rourke 1922-1934
46O’Rourke Oversized
26Rochford 1934-1938
47Rochford Oversized
27Kohler 1938-1945
48Kohler Oversized
28Flohe 1945-1962
29Flohe LCM (Little Company of Mary) May ‘54
210Flohe LCM June ‘54
211Flohe 25th Anniversary of Ordination
49Flohe Oversized
212Amman 1962-1964
410Amman Oversized
213Kolenic 1964-1970
411Kolenic Oversized
214Malewitz 1970-1974
412Malewitz Oversized
215Weber 1974-1983
413Weber Oversized
216VanLente 1983-1990
414VanLente Oversized
217Reginato 1990-1997
415Reginato Oversized
218Hall 1997-2004
219King 2004-Present
144Photo Negatives
3Scrapbooks
Sports
145Sports Pre-2006
146Sports 2006-Present
147Girls Basketball Pre-2000
148Girls Basketball 2000-Present