Twenty-one years after the first Catholic church was built in Bay County - St. Joseph, St. Mary of the Assumption came into being.
   Under the Detroit diocese's direction, Fr. Martin Godfried Canters was sent from Mt. Morris - St. Mary, to start the first Bay City West Side parish.
   Until then, Catholics on the West Side of the river attended services at St. Joseph by going across the river on rafts, floats or ferries, but not on a daily basis.
   By Oct. 29, 1873 Fr. Canters had secured a land contract with Daniel Fitzhugh for a portion of the block now owned by the parish for the sum of $1,500, with a generous assist of $1,000 from W.D. Fitzhugh.
The deed was given given over to Bishop Borgess, of the Diocese of Detroit, on March 31, 1875.
   Fr. Canters served St. Mary very efficiently for five years and was succeeded by Fr. M.H. Schacken, whose stay at St. Mary was the shortest. Just one year after his appointment he died.
   Fr. H.J.H. Schutjes followed in 1880 and made things happen at St. Mary. He built the present church, established the school and built the first convent. The first church became the first school.
All this was done in eight years with Fr. Schutjes donating $6,550 toward the new church himself.
   Fr. John G. Sanson was St. Mary's fourth pastor and Visitation's first, serving from 1888 to 1895.
Then came Fr. Joseph Schrembs (1895-1900) who started the building of the grand high school. Before this project was finished, he was transferred to Grand Rapids St. Mary, and later was named Bishop of Toledo, Ohio.
   Fr. Edward A. Caldwell completed the building of the school and stayed at St. Mary for 12 years. Fr. Thomas J. Delanty (1915-1923) followed and built the new brick convent and rectory.
   Fr. Delanty died less than a year after the rectory was completed and Fr. Thomas J. Reid (1923-1931) took charge. It was he who changed the wooden church structure to brick, removed the 14-foot cross and replaced it with the present steeple. To make the changes possible, Fr. Reid borrowed $41,000. However, an automobile accident took his life before the debt was repaid and his successor, Fr. Charles Van Colen, inherited the remaining $16,000 debt, which was not paid off until 1939.
   Fr. Van Colen will go down in history as serving the parish for the most number of years - 35. During those years, which encompassed World War II, Fr. Van Colen made many improvements in the parish with building a new high school at a cost of $400,000. It now houses handicapped students.
   Fr. Harry J. Hart followed, when Fr. Van Colen became pastor emeritus of the parish and stayed five years.
   Fr. John O'Callaghan became the 11th pastor in parish history in 1971 and was succeeded by Fr. Donald J. Eppenbrock. He remained until 1984, when he was replaced by Fr. Charles L. Ganley, who took over in July of 1984. The present pastor, Fr. James Heller, a son of an old parish family, took over in July, 1996.
   Nine students of St. Mary became priests and all are living with the exception of Fr. Edwin Gaffney, S.J. (the first) and Fr. George Gougeon.
   Fifty girls entered the convent and became nuns. Thirty-seven of those joined the Mercy Order.
   The first classes were under the direction of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in 1888 and closed the same year.
   The school was reopened in 1890 by the Grand Rapids Sisters of Mercy, now of Detroit, and they remained until the school was closed in June 1973.


More History of St. Mary's will be coming  in the near future. . .