• Sunday-What'sUP April 20 - 09:15 pm

This morning when we posted the "Historic Churches in the U.P." video on Facebook, I did a quick scan for updated images. One of the prominent results in each search was the former Holy Family Orphanage in Marquette, alternately referred to as "Holy Cross Orphanage". We have often wondered what the building was, as we've driven past on U.S. 41 on the south side. It is the ruins of a stately old structure sitting just to the west of the Jacobetti Veterans Hospital.

There are many amateur videos and blog entries about the Holy Family Orphanage which you can easily find at Google. But the only official account I could locate was in minutes of the City of Marquette more than a year ago. (Search for 1915 to find the relevant section.) Here is an excerpt:

"...Holy Cross Orphanage in the City of Marquette. Built in 1915, the orphanage sits in a prominent location near the center of the city. It can be seen by motorists as they travel through town on US41/ M28 and in its current state has been an unfortunate part of the city’s “skyline.” The building is mostly surrounded by residential properties, its immediate neighbor being the Di. Jacobetti Home for Veterans. It is two blocks away from the Father Marquette Elementary School and the Historic St. Peter Cathedral. The building has been vacant since 1981 and has experienced several ownership changes since that time. The site has incredible potential for redevelopment, but the cost to either renovate or demolish the buildings has deterred any potential investors. Instead it has attracted vandals, continues to deteriorate, and has been declared a public nuisance by the 25th Circuit Court for the County of Marquette..."

What a beautiful building and what a shame that it's going to ruin.

Happy Easter to all.

Agreed.
To bad it couldn't be restored for use as a youth centre or maybe even a community college, but as the blurb above says, where does the money come from??

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down, long has it waved on high. Too many eye sores or derilicts could be wonderful again if only the money would find them.

Greetings:

In the Spring 1996 edition of 'Above the Bridge' magazine Mr. Ben Mukkala of Harvey, Michigan (1996) wrote an article about the Holy Family Orphan's Home in Marquette. The article is entitled "Holy Family Orphan's Home Fading Away."

According to that article back in 1995 the building was about to change hands for $1,165.

My guess from here is that the 1914 building is full of asbestos and lead paint and that the environmental cost is prohibitive either way. Meaning to costly to either save to tear down.

The lot size is the bigger question. The lot must be smaller than viewed otherwise the building would have been sold a long time ago simply for the land.

JT

Very interesting about the orphanage. So sad that
buildings like that are just left to deteriorate
that way. Hopefully at some point, somebody out
there will be able to restore it.

recently i compiled a little something on it here:
www.nailhed.com/2014/01/yoopee-expedition-2006-part-1.html
(you have to scroll down a bit)

i mostly referenced material cited by a colleague, here:
substreet.org/holy-family-orphanage/