Portland St. Patrick: General Collection
Abstract
This collection contains a wide array of documents pertaining to Portland St. Patrick Parish and its
history. Every aspect of parish life is represent in some capacity including the lives of the pastors and
parishioners, academics, athletics, and even the expansion of parish buildings and grounds. This
impressive collection spans St. Patrick Parish’s history; from 1878 to the present.
Collection #: 1
Span: 1878-Present
Size: 3 cubic feet
History
In 1878 Fr. Charles G. Bolte of Ionia was authorized by Bishop Borgess of Detroit to build a church at
Portland; this church would become St. Patrick Parish. Fr. Bolte came to Portland to hold mass on an
irregular basis. In 1899 Fr. Mathias Auer was named the first pastor at St. Patrick Parish. In 1906 the
first school was built and taught up to eighth grade and in 1927 the current church was built. In 1951 Fr.
Louis Flohe built a new school and in 1961 and addition built. With this addition St. Patrick School began
to offer K-12 education. Fr. Flohe purchased much of the land owned by the parish today during his
tenure as pastor. In 2002 the final addition to the school was built.
St. Patrick School has enjoyed some success in athletics. The girls basketball team has won six state
championships and six runner runner-up titles. The softball, golf, and football programs have also won
state championships and six individuals from St. Patrick School have won a state championship.
Scope and Content
This collection includes documents of a wide array of topics pertaining to Portland St. Patrick Parish.
The news and evolution of the parish and school make up most of the collection. The rest of the
collection is dedicated primarily to parishioners, financial news, and diocesan news.
For the most part this collection has impressive depth. Major parish events, such as new buildings or
additions, capitol campaigns, and parish anniversaries are well documented. There are a large number
of photos from the 1990s and early 2000s but photos from before this time are surprisingly well
represented. For example, numerous photos of the building and dedication of the church are present.
The gathering of parish newsletters and bulletins is lacking but this is to some degree made up with
ample newspaper clippings throughout the parish’s history. A series of scrapbooks is also included that
provides a very in depth look at the parish, primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, through pictures and
newspaper clippings.
This collection includes a wide array of primary source documents that would be of great help for one
writing a history of St. Patrick Parish or simply one who wishes to learn more of the history of the parish.
Furthermore, the ample documents related to parish buildings would be of value to one researching
religious architectural tendencies and the documentations of parishioners through the years could
greatly benefit an armature genealogist.
Any documents labeled ADGR were originally found at the Archive of the Diocese of Grand Rapids and
the original copy of those documents can be found there with the code listed on the individual
documents. Additional documents pertaining to St. Patrick Parish may be found at the Diocese of
Detroit, the Diocese of Lansing, or the Portland R & O.
Contents
Box
Folder
Description
1
1
Academics
Clergy
1
2
Clergy News
1
3
Mass Booklets
Duplicates
2
20
Duplicates
2
21
History Duplicates
Financial
1
4
Financial Pre-1930
1
5
Financial 1930-1969
1
6
Financial 1970-Present
1
7
Parish Purchases
Histories
1
8
Parish Histories
1
9
Local Histories
1
10
Military
Parish Anniversaries
1
11
Parish Anniversaries
4
1
Golden Year Calendar Oversized
Parish Buildings and Grounds
1
12
Pre-1927 Church
1
13
1906 School
1
14
Church Architect Conflict
1
15
Church Architectural Specs
1
16
1927 Church
1
17
Church Sketches
4
2
School Addition Proposal Oversized
1
18
1951 School
1
19
1961 School Addition
1
20
1961 School Addition Financial Campaign
1
21
Parish Rectory
1
22
Church Windows
1
23
Parish Office
1
24
Church Photos P. 1
1
25
Church Photos P. 2
1
26
Church Photos P. 3
1
27
Church Photos P. 4
1
28
Parish Grounds
Parish Directories
3
1
Parish Directories
29
Photos for Directories
Parish Events
1
30
Events Pre-1960
1
31
Events 1960-1989
1
32
Events 1990-Present
1
33
Parish Festival
Parishioners
1
34
Parishioners Pre-1990
1
35
Parishioners 1990-Present
1
36
Parishioners Photos P. 1
1
37
Parishioners Photos P. 2
1
38
Theater 2000-2006
1
39
Theater 2007-Present
Parish News
1
40
Parish Reports
1
41
St. Patrick’s Watchman
1
42
Bulletins
1
43
Principal Letters
Pastors and Assistants
2
1
Bolte Pre-1899
2
2
Auer 1899-1908
4
3
Auer Oversized
2
3
Koelzer 1908-1920
4
4
Koelzer Oversized
2
4
Griffin 1920-1922
4
5
Griffin Oversized
2
5
O’Rourke 1922-1934
4
6
O’Rourke Oversized
2
6
Rochford 1934-1938
4
7
Rochford Oversized
2
7
Kohler 1938-1945
4
8
Kohler Oversized
2
8
Flohe 1945-1962
2
9
Flohe LCM (Little Company of Mary) May ‘54
2
10
Flohe LCM June ‘54
2
11
Flohe 25th Anniversary of Ordination
4
9
Flohe Oversized
2
12
Amman 1962-1964
4
10
Amman Oversized
2
13
Kolenic 1964-1970
4
11
Kolenic Oversized
2
14
Malewitz 1970-1974
4
12
Malewitz Oversized
2
15
Weber 1974-1983
4
13
Weber Oversized
2
16
VanLente 1983-1990
4
14
VanLente Oversized
2
17
Reginato 1990-1997
4
15
Reginato Oversized
2
18
Hall 1997-2004
2
19
King 2004-Present
1
44
Photo Negatives
3
Scrapbooks
Sports
1
45
Sports Pre-2006
1
46
Sports 2006-Present
1
47
Girls Basketball Pre-2000
1
48
Girls Basketball 2000-Present