Maria Santissima Immacolata di Lourdes / Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Church

Maria Santissima Immacolata di Lourdes
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Italian immigrants came to Iron Mountain to work in the iron mines. In 1890, Italian Catholics from the community’s north side organized what was popularly known as “the Italian Church.” That year they built a frame church near this site. The church burned in 1893 and was rebuilt. In April 1902, Father G. Pietro Sinopoli arrived here. Within two months he formed a church building committee. Four thousand dollars was raised and in June Father Sinopoli began excavating the foundation. The church was completed in December and dedicated to Mary Immaculate of Lourdes on January 1, 1903.
Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Church
This church reflects the heritage and building techniques of the Italian immigrants who erected it. The church, with its bell tower fashioned after a campanile, is strikingly reminiscent of Renaissance parish churches in Italy. Father G. Pietro Sinopoli, the parish priest, is thought to have designed the building. Masons and volunteers hauled sandstone from a quarry one mile south of here to build the exterior walls. The Menominee Stained Glass Works created at least three of the windows, including the choir loft window designed by Father Sinopoli. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.