Early St. John's

This is the original St. John's Church and School at Fifth and DePere Streets, in an area then known as "Jones Grove."  The church, dedicated August 12, 1888, was built after some 75 families of Polish descent decided to sever connections with St. Mary's Church and its largely German congregation and establish a parish of their own.

At an estimated cost of $5,000, this new church occupied an area of 40 by 90 feet with the upper floor used for church services and the lower portion used as a school and residence for the Sisters of St. Francis who had come up from Milwaukee to teach the parish's children. 

This facility lasted until 1900 when the congregation erected the present church at the site. You can see a photo of that design at my original St. John's blog post:  http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2013/04/st-johns.html .
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And in honor of yesterday's Grand Re-Opening of the Tayco Street Bridge Museum, your attention is directed to this 1999 news article, featured in my blog post of February 18, 2013:
http://menashabook.blogspot.com/2013/02/tayco-street-bridge-museum.html