Description of Historic Place

St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church is a Municipal Heritage Property occupying a lot in the Hamlet of Barthel within the Rural Municipality of Loon Lake. The property features a large wood-frame church with two towers framing the front façade, and a cairn.

Heritage Value

St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church is valued for its association with the foundation and development of this community. In 1929, the first settlers began homesteading in this township. The largely Catholic population built a small church, which the community quickly outgrew. Lacking money to purchase materials, each family cut a few logs for a new church from their homestead and hauled them to a nearby sawmill. Constructed between 1938 and 1939, the church quickly became a central place in the community and several generations celebrated baptism and marriages there. Many community members have since been buried in the cemetery. A cairn situated near the church dedicated to the founders of the parish incorporates the original church-bell. Although mass in no longer celebrated regularly in the church, it continues to be a landmark in the community.

St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church is also valued for its historical integrity. The church retains most of its interior trim, fixtures and wall covering materials from the time of construction. On the exterior, the church features its original form and rounded-arch window and vent openings.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Loon Lake No. 501 Bylaw No. 1/5.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church lies in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements reflecting the church’s association with the community, such as the interior gathering space and its location on its original site;
-those elements reflecting the historical integrity of the property, such as its form and massing, the towers, the lumber hewed from locally cut trees, interior columns, balcony, wood trim and wainscoting and the arched ceiling;
-the stone cairn.