St. Charles Parish at 505 S. Lafayette St., Greenville, MI 48838 US - St. Charles' Church History

The first Mass in Greenville was celebrated in 1859 when Fr. Henry Rievers from Parnell gathered five families in the home of Patrick and Anna McDonald (s.w. corner of E. Benton and Webster) for Mass. In 1875, Fr. Charles G. Bolte of Ionia purchased property on Maple Street (what is now the corner of E. Washington and Walnut Streets) and started a church under the patronage of St. Charles Borromeo. The first Mass was celebrated here on September 12, 1875. In 1912, the parish purchased the Slaght home and two thirds of the surrounding block on S. Franklin Street bordered by West Oak on the south and West Benton on the north. In 1913, the church on Washington and Maple was torn down and the materials used to build a basment church facing West Benton (where the Activities Building now stands). In January 1914, Fr. Charles F. Bolte arrived as the first resident pastor of the parish of some 33 families. He stayed until 1918. His successors were Fr. Joseph Illig (1918-22), Fr. Daniel Wynne (1922-23), Fr. Michael Ignatius Kalahar (1923-29), Fr. William Flannery (1929-36), Fr. Linus Schrems (1936-40), Fr. John Zindler (1940-42), Fr. Anthony Bourdow (1942-43) Fathers David Drinan and J. Walter Grill administrated the parish while Fr. Bourdow served as chaplain in World War II (1943-46), Fr. Anthony Bourdow (1946-48), Fr. Joseph Ciesluk (administrator June-July 1948), Fr. Francis J. Kupinski (1948-57), Fr. Henry Niedzwiecki (1957-62), Fr. Edward Bielskas (1962-72), Fr. Denis Nash (1972-79), Fr. Michael McKenna (1979-88), Fr. Thomas McKinney (1988-97), Fr. Fred Brucker (1998-2003), Fr. Phillip Salmonowicz (2003-present). In 1934, Fr. William V. Flannery supervised the building of a new mission-style church building on the corner of Franklin and Oak Streets. This church building was greatly expanded and modernized in 1976 to serve the growing number of parishioners. In September 1994, lightning struck the church and burnt it to the ground. The parishioners spent 2 1/2 years planning and building the current edifice, which was dedicated by Bishop Robert J. Rose on March 16, 1997. From the ashes of the fire, the parish family experienced a resurrection of new vitality, which led to strategic planning beginning in the fall of 1998. St. Charles' currently has about 800 households, with many summer visitors from the surrounding lakes. Masses are also held at the mission church of St. Margaret in Harvard, 11 miles west of Greenville.

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