A Brief Early History
The first Episcopal service in Cheboygan took place in the dead of winter — February 1874. Capt. Leslie Smith, Commandant of the military garrison at Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island, and the Rev. William Stonex, Rector of Trinity Church on Mackinac Island and chaplain to the garrison, made the journey with a small group of soldiers and civilians. Braving the cold, they crossed the ice from the Island to Cheboygan to share in worship for the very first time.
Photo courtesy of the Mackinac State Historic Parks.
It wasn’t until 1880 that the parish of St. James was officially established. That same year, a church building was constructed about three blocks south of our present location.
[Photo: The original St. James Church building, c. 1880]
​
The photo to the right was taken just before the church was moved to its current site sometime between 1900 and 1905. In a remarkable feat, the original building was lifted from its foundation, pulled by horses, and rolled on logs to the new location. There, it was set onto a newly built stone foundation, giving it the solid footing it still rests on today. Notice how much the tree in front of the church had grown over the twenty years since it was first built — a living witness to the passage of time in our parish’s story.
