St. Mary’s Church located in Adair, Mo. Still retains some of its quiet dignity and grandeur. The white-painted wooden church was built in 1904-1905 and its bells are still in place in the bell tower although they have not been rung for many years. In the foreground can be seen part of St. Mary’s cemetery. An organization, Friends of St. Mary’s, is working to restore the historic church.
In need of repair—this is how the interior of St. Mary’s Church of Adair looks today. The metal ceiling tile which is rusting attests to the problems of a leaky roof and a church badly in need of repair. The Friends of St. Mary’s are trying to renovate the old wooden church which is one of only two buildings in Adair County that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
It’s up around a curve and just over a slight hill on Route 11, just east of Kirksville.
Despite its weather-beaten, chipped-white paint appearance, its
two towers reach with permanence towards the sky.
It is St. Mary’s Church of Adair.
Stepping inside, one immediately notices the metal ceiling tile, suspended like mobiles from the ceiling, attesting to the leaky roof.
But beyond the first glance one notices its majesty. The original religious statuary such as “The Sorrowful Mother” stands on either side of the church entrance, and like the rest of the church they seem to emit a quiet dignity.
In this country setting, St. Mary’s Church transports the Sunday driver back to the early 1900’s.
But, according to Sherry Piland, the church will not continue for long to convey such thoughts to people if the church is not restored. It was for the purpose of restoring St. Mary’s Church that the Friends of St. Mary’s was started several years ago. According to Mrs. George Moore of Brashear and a member of the Friends, the church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 16, 1973. It is one of only two buildings in Adair County which are listed on the national register. The other is the Parrish Place in Kirksville.
In 1975, Phillip Cotton, a St. Louis architect, was hired by the
Friends of St. Mary’s, to plan the restoration of the church.
The Friends collected donations to hire an appraiser from St.
Louis to appraise the church. The church was appraised at $20,000 and that
figure did not take into account the value of the interior furnishings.
The salvage value of the church was listed as $15,000.
On the basis, at least partly on the appraisal, a $10,000 grant from the federal Department of Natural Resources was secured to begin the renovation work.
The Friends of St. Mary’s Church of Adair, Inc. recently became owners of the historic church. The church had been owned by the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City.
This past Sunday about 50 persons showed up for a picnic lunch and meeting of the Friends on the church lawn in Adair. Miss Piland told the group that the Friends have applied for a $30,000 National Parks grant from the U.S. Department of Natural Resources. The grant is a matching grant, but it was explained that the matching funds could be in financial terms or in services provided by Friends members such as donating free time to help in the renovation project.
Miss Piland suggested that the organization should set up a rotating fund which will provide the necessary funds for the perpetual upkeep of the church.
Concerning the renovation, the most urgent restoration work is the repair of the leaky roof and some structural work on the bell tower. The roof needs to be reshingled and the group plans to put cedar shingles on the roof in keeping with the time period when the church was built. The cost will be about $74 a square foot.
At last Sunday’s meeting, Professor Larry Stephens of NMSU spoke to the group. Stephens is helping the Friends attempt to obtain a grant from the Missouri Committee for the Humanities for restoration work.
The Missouri Committee for the Humanities receives federal funding.
Stephens said that over the past two years, partly due to the Bicentennial, people all over America have become interested in history and historical preservation of their heritage. He said this is particularly true of people in Northeast Missouri.
One of the problems of the Friends of St. Mary’s is that they are not well-publicized. Stephens noted that he had lived in Adair County for 10 years and only recently learned of the organization.
The NMSU professor stated that he could probably obtain a $1,000 grant from Humanities Committee for the purpose of studying whether there is community interest in preserving the church. He said the group could formulate the question, “Will St. Mary’s Church be preserved?”
Stephens observed that St. Mary’s Church is the “best 19th century architecture in Northeast Missouri.” “You’ve got a great product here,” he noted. Actually the church was built in 1904-1905.
According to Stephens, the group should send out a questionnaire
to the people asking whether the church should be preserved and asking
for their suggestions on how the group should proceed with the restoration
of the historic Catholic church.
He also said that the group needs to design a brochure or calendar
which would help publicize the group, the church and the restoration effort.
Prior to the talk by Stephens, Frank Williams of the Iron Horse Band in Kirksville entertained the group.
Adair Parish dates back to 1855 when a log church was built. The Adair Parish was originally started as a branch of the Edina Parish. For some time prior to the Civil War, Catholics from Ohio began to settle in and around Edina. Soon a strong settlement began to spread west from Edina. A few Catholic families settled in Clay Township in Adair County.
Father McNamee (error for McMenomy) assistant priest in Edina, urged about six families living in Clay Township to make a start toward founding a Catholic Church. Father McNamee began celebrating mass in the home of Dan McGonigle in Adair while a log church was being erected in 1855. From this beginning, the Adair Parish grew until 428 people representing 90 families lived in the parish in 1911. Up until 1911, there had been only two priests, Father Ryan, 1877-1878 to 1888 and Father O’Shea who spent the next 26 years as pastor of the Adair church.
The log church was replaced with a wood frame church in 1869. That church was later moved to another site and today it remains as part of Adair Hall in Adair. But unfortunately it is in bad condition and will probably have to be torn down, according to Mrs. Moore.
Then in 1904-1905 the present St. Mary’s Church was built. It was dedicated on June 15, 1905 with Archibishop Glennon of St. Louis officiating. The Romanesque theme church cost $10,000 to build. At that time, the church was noted for its beautiful stained glass windows, ceiling lights and statues, some of which remain.
One statue which remains is “The Sorrowful Mother,” which is one of only three reproductions of the famous original statue which is in Rome, Italy. The reproduction was given to the church in 1904-1905 by Mrs. W. L. Leonard of Denver, Colo., and aunt of Mrs. Moore.
The Village of Adair, founded in 1866, was a prosperous town for many years, and in its heyday it had a number of businesses including a doctor, food and clothing stores, a grist mill, blacksmith shop, livery stable, fur buyer, post office, and millinery shop.
Adair was known then for the big church picnics and dinners. It was reported that people came from miles around to attend the picnics and dinners. At Christmas time St. Mary’s Church had a three-night festival which included dancing and a full meal. The church was also know for the fine dance bands which came from Quincy, Ill. and other places.
With restoration work to begin, hopefully, this year, some of the glamour and activity surrounding the old wooden church may return.