I have, in front of me, a column that I wrote Sept. 6, 1991. The headline reads “Closing of 107-year-old church saddens parish.”

Today, I look back and wonder how could I have been so wrong?

The church has a long history. When the present structure was built in 1919, it was the third church to stand on the property. The original building was dedicated in 1889. Before a church building, Mass was celebrated in the log home of Andrew Nazarzewski.

But let’s start at the beginning.

In the mid-1800s, Milwaukee had a thriving Polish population. Many were recent immigrants. An economic depression came to the area in the early 1870s, causing great suffering.

Some of the Poles who had settled in Milwaukee knew other immigrants who had settled in Cheboygan. They were members of Cheboygan’s St. Lawrence Catholic Church on Cleveland Avenue, which was across from the present-day city recreation center (it was torn down in the late 1960s or early 70s). Cheboygan County was growing in the late 1800s, largely due to the lumber boom. Land was free and inexpensive, so the parishioners of St. Lawrence invited their fellow Poles to come settle in the Cheboygan area.

Five men came first. Soon, their wives arrived by boat at Duncan City (which was much larger in size and population than the city of Cheboygan). Among the first families were Noskey, Socolowicz, Budzinski and Nowacrewski. They purchased inexpensive, fertile land in the Riggsville area and built homes — huts made from wattle and daub techniques (the same kind of homes their forefathers had built in Poland). The huts were 10-feet by 14-feet and had dirt floors. The floor was one foot below ground level. Leaves and earth covered a basswood frame.

Religion played a big part in the lives of these hard-working immigrants. They never doubted that God would look after them.

A Catholic Church was built in 1889. It was a frame building and it had a tall steeple. A priest was commissioned and later a bell was installed in the church. The church was finished on the inside in 1902, and it was blessed and dedicated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus by the bishop of Grand Rapids. St. Lawrence became the mother church of Sacred Heart.

Next, a small rectory was constructed by the church. The upstairs was used for a parochial school until 1918. A fire damaged that church, so the upstairs of the rectory was used for a chapel, youth center, religious classroom, and activity and meeting rooms.

Early on, a priest came once a month for Mass, but the pious congregation met regularly to recite prayers together. In 1897, the pastor of St. Lawrence Church, in Cheboygan, traveled, by horse and buggy, to do a mission at Sacred Heart’s Church. The first weekly services began in 1914.

Two sacristies were added to the church. Then a bolt of lightning struck the church and burned it to the ground.

Not accepting defeat, the devout farmers laid the cornerstone for a new church in 1919. It was a lovely structure of fieldstone and stained glass. Parishioners worked hard to finish a concrete floor in the basement, added a new hot air furnace and a new bell, and built a storage shed and concession booths for bazaars. They also added a baptismal fount, a burial vault in the cemetery, and robes for the priest and altar boys. 

After 1952, Sacred Heart Church shared a priest with St. Francis Church of Alverno, which ended when St. Francis Church was assigned its own priest.

In 1991, news came that the Diocese was planning to close Sacred Heart because of a critical priest shortage.

The parishioners, about 75 percent of them descendants of the first Polish families, refused to accept the decision. Led by Ed “Big Ed” Socolovitch, Sacred Heart’s families mounted a protest. Parishioners occupied the church for 24 hours-a-day, praying and saying the Rosary, until their story was picked up in the Detroit newspapers. With increasing media coverage, talks soon began between the Bishop and the protestors. The Bishop came to understand that parishioners were not going away. He eventually relented and left the church open for the Polish rebels who never gave up!

Today, Sacred Heart Church still stands on top of the hill at the corner of Riggsville Road and Church Road. It was, and is, an exquisite cobblestone church.

Thankfully, parishioners won their battle for their heritage. In 2023, Sacred Heart is flourishing.