Description of Historic Place

St. Mary’s Church and Site is a Municipal Heritage Property situated on a 1.3 hectare parcel within the Rural Municipality of Buchanan No. 304. The property features a one-storey wood-frame church with corner towers, cairn, cemetery and non-contributing shed.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of St. Mary’s Church and Site resides in its association with the community’s Roman Catholic settlers. Faith was important to many settlers and weekly religious services also offered the members of early rural communities a rare opportunity to socialise. Having outgrown their original church, the Roman Catholic parish moved to this site in 1927. This church was constructed in 1944 to replace an earlier one that had been destroyed the preceding year. In 1955 the parishioners built a cairn a few metres west of the church in honour of the parish’s 50th anniversary, dedicating it to the Polish pioneers. Although regular mass ceased by 1983, the church, with its twin towers topped with metal domes, remains a landmark in the community.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Buchanan No. 304 Bylaw No. 3-2001.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of St. Mary’s Church and Site resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements reflecting association with the community’s Roman Catholic homesteaders, such as the church’s orientation on its lot, the cairn, the grave markers and interments;
-those elements contributing to the church’s landmark status, such as its form and dome surmounted towers, the crosses and the building’s orientation on its lot.