Stations of the Cross and other Renovations

In 1892, Father Honoratus turned his attention to updating the church by adding a new set of stations. These half relief pictures of the Passion were imported from Munich Bavaria at a cost of $680.38. The entire sum for this project was paid for by generous parishioners’ donations.

In 1936/1937, Father Cyprian began a remodeling of the church that included a new roof, covering the church main steps and heating the vestibule, adding restrooms in the basement of the friary, an archway between the Church and the friary. Also, he had installed a pedestal for the statue of Saint Joseph on the top of the arch. These improvements cost $16,345.

Next Father turned his attention to the inside of the Church. These improvements included new lighting, remodeling the high altar and installing frames around the Stations of the Cross. The cost of these projects was $5,915.95.

In the 1990s, Father John Zickert supervised the remodeling of the Church to comply with the recommended Vatican II requirements. These projects included removing the large altars, having the smaller altar facing the parishioners and removing the kneelers. A new crying room was added with large windows and sound system. The church was also repainted at this time. The frames of the Stations of the Cross were removed and the pictures of the stations were then framed in a painted halo design.

Recently in 2019/2020, Father Jim has overseen the project of our church receiving a yet another facelift that included installing a new roof, rebuilding our amazing stained glass windows, refinishing our historic pews, rebuilding the altar platform to make more room for seating, refinishing our beautiful floors and painting parts of the church. This improvement will help keep our church relevant as we continue to worship here at St. Joseph’s. Over the past 157 years that St. Joseph’s has been a parish, we have seen many changes to our church. One thing has remained constant, our parishioners’ dedication and support to serving its parish and keeping St. Joseph’s a vibrant and growing parish.