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Masonry Restoration at St. Rose |
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Written by Christoph Henning
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 While visiting family in Pine Island in 2010, my wife, son and I had the pleasure of attending the ice cream social of the Friends of St. Rose. I had never seen this beautiful limestone church and was thrilled by the work of the Friends. At the social I learned about the upcoming tuckpointing project and, as a professional in historic preservation, I pointed out to my brother-in-law (Mr. P.) that it was not necessary to remove mortar joints that were in good condition and that the church and its building history would be better served by a selective repair of the joints. |
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Bell Tower Artifacts Discovered |
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 Marv Bronner has spent several hours over the years cleaning out debris and making structural repairs inside the bell tower. Last summer, he was surprised to find the original shipping tags still in tact that accompanied the bell over 100 years ago. It's amazing that these two paper tags survived the elements inside this tower that has always been exposed to the elements. The bell was made in 1896 and came from the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, New York . It weighs just under 3,000 pounds including the mountings, clapper, tolling hammer, and swinging bell wheel. The bell was transported by boat all the way from New York around the southeastern United States and up the Mississippi River to be received in Red Wing. This magnificent bell resides in the St. Rose cemetery and photos of the shipping tags are found in the photo gallery when you 'Read more'...
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Tuck-point Restoration |
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 Tuck-pointing, or 're-pointing' as is properly called since this is restoration, is among the biggest projects we have ever faced at St. Rose. We're fortunate to hire a skilled craftsman whose expertise allowed us to both repoint using lime mortar in the joints that had failed and replace ten broken limestones located on the bell tower. Christoph Henning is a stone carver and restoration specialist from Connecticut who attended our Ice Cream Social last August and expressed an interest in this project to his extended family from Pine Island. He is originally from Germany and his commissions include the New York Public Library and the Victorian Mansion in Portland, Maine. It seemed obvious that he was the perfect artisan to lead this project. We have learned a great deal about historic preservation and restoration of stone buildings form Christoph. We were able to repoint approximately 50% of the areas that need repointing and replace ten broken limestones on the bell tower before our allocated funds were depleted. We hope to raise enough money this year to complete this project next summer.
Visit our Photo Gallery to view pictures of this project. |
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Upon this Rock... |
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 St. Rose has stood proudly as an historic landmark in Cherry Grove Township for the past 133 years. Those of you who farm in this area know that deep beneath this rich dark top soil lies limestone. In fact, all throughout southeastern Minnesota you will find limestone ledges as you travel into valleys.
The Irish who immigrated to this area in the 1800’s chose to settle in Cherry Grove Township for its diversity and selected a high point in the township to build St. Rose. This church was a true testament to their faith in this new land of opportunity. St. Rose is located at an elevation of 1,210 feet. Many of you may have noticed that the land surrounding St. Rose gently slopes down hill in every direction. The elevation of Rochester is 989 feet above sea level and if you look far beyond the parking area youcan actually see the wind turbines located 17 miles due south between Dodge Center and Hayfield. It seems most fitting that we recently rediscovered the following scripture passage on the south wall of the sanctuary while restoring the trompe l’oeil imagery; “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.” ... |
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