All
of the church's original statues were
purchased for the first building prior to
1908. We know that the St. Wenceslaus statue
(1) was bought by the Altar Society in 1908
at a cost of $30.50. The stations of the
cross in the present church (5) are not the
original ones. The first stations of the
cross were purchased by the Altar Society in
1905 at a cost of $55. They were removed
from the old church during construction of
the new church and eventually were stored in
the east (i.e., altar boy's) sacristy
shortly after the new structure was
completed. Unfortunately, a small
sacristy fire in 1915 damaged several of the
original stations (photo coming soon!),
which necessitated replacement of the entire
series of 14. The replacement stations were
purchased in 1919 and were installed on
February 14th, Valentine's Day. Although all
of the statues are original, they, along
with the stations of the cross, were
repainted during the 1980's by Arlene Cook,
an artist from Traverse City. The original
statue of the Infant of Prague was removed
from the main altar area after Vatican II.
The present statue (7) is a modern
replacement, which is kept in a cabinet to
the right of the altar. The statues of Jesus
(Sacred Heart) and St. Therese (4, 6) are
located in the church narthex on either side
of the entrance door.
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