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May 19, 2017
St. Margaret Mary Mission church in rural Franklin County is one of the smallest churches in the Diocese of Nashville; in fact, “if you blink, you’ll miss it,” according to pastor Father Jean Baptiste Kyabuta.
At its board meeting on May 10, the Tennessee Historical Commission recommended St. Margaret Mary Mission Church in Alto, Tenn. to be named to the National Register of Historic Places due to the church’s unique architecture and local significance. They expect the process to be completed in about two months, pending national approval. Photos by Theresa Laurence
But the small Gothic Revival-style sandstone building will soon receive a big honor: a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.
“This makes us happy and proud for the work our predecessors did,” said Father Kyabuta. He, along with parishioners Mike and Wendy Gallagher, attended the May 10 meeting of the Tennessee Historical Commission State Review Board that discussed and unanimously approved the nomination of St. Margaret Mary to the National Register.
When he told parishioners that their little church would be named to the National Register of Historic Places, “they were full of joy,” said Father Kyabuta, who is also pastor of St. Margaret Mary’s mother church, Good Shepherd in nearby Decherd.
The nomination process was spearheaded by Jane-Coleman Harbison, of the Tennessee Historical Commission, who is a parishioner at Cathedral of the Incarnation. Attending Mass at St. Margaret Mary during a visit to Sewanee, “I immediately thought, ‘how beautiful,’” she said. Noting how little the church building and its surroundings have changed since it was built in 1938, “you really get a sense of history” visiting the country mission church, Harbison said.
To be considered for the National Register of Historic Places, a site must be at least 50 years old, and have “significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture” and “possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship,” according to the official criteria for the Register.
As Harbison researched the history of St. Margaret Mary, and the history of the rural southeastern corner of the diocese, she learned about the Paulist priests’ “trailer missions” in the area, “which I had no idea about until I started this project,” she said.
A small number of Irish Catholic railroad workers settled near Winchester and Decherd, at the foot of Monteagle mountain, starting in the 1850s, but it wasn’t until the Paulist order arrived at the turn of the 20th century that the Catholic community began to flourish. With a mission of evangelizing non-Catholics in order to gain new converts, the Paulists were known for their innovate use of radio, film screenings and print media to reach the rural poor and spread the Gospel message and the Catholic faith.
In Franklin County and surrounding areas, the Paulists took their ministry on the road on horseback, and later, used the “St. Lucy motor chapel,” a trailer that included sleeping quarters for the traveling priest, and a rear section that opened up to accommodate an altar. The “motor chapel” also included loud speakers and a pull-down screen to display films.
Mike Gallagher, a member of one of the original Catholic families in the area, said his father remembered the days of the trailer missions. St. Margaret Mary and its mother parish, Good Shepherd, “have been a big part of our lives,” Gallagher said. “The history is significant and it’s significant to my family.”
Jane-Coleman Harbison, right, with the Tennessee Historical Commission, and a parishioner at Cathedral of the Incarnation, prepared the proposal to recommend St. Margaret Mary Mission Church in Alto, Tenn. to the National Register of HIstoric Places. She spoke with St. Margaret Mary pastor Father John Baptiste Kyabuta and parishioners Mike and Wanda Gallagher after the May 10 board meeting of the Commission.
One of the Paulists’ most successful mission sites was in Alto, Tennessee, and in June 1938, Diocese of Nashville Bishop William Adrian approved a request to build a permanent chapel in the small farming community. Local residents worked quickly to build the church, providing all of the carpentry and masonry; they quarried the stone from nearby Roarks Cove. Unique architectural features of the church include: exposed wooden roof trusses, frosted glass windows, exposed interior stone and brick, wood floors and pews. The new church, St. Margaret Mary, was dedicated Dec. 4, 1938, and has remained largely unchanged ever since.
“Over the past seventy-nine years, St. Margaret Mary has preserved its same design and workmanship, mindfully not altering any character defining features or replacing a significant amount of materials. Through its picturesque setting and vernacular construction, St. Margaret Mary Catholic mission continues to exude the feeling of the Paulist spirit,” Harbison wrote in her nomination of the church to the National Register.
After receiving approval from the Tennessee Historical Commission board, the nomination will be passed along to the National Park Service, which oversees the National Register of Historic Places. Harbison expects final approval soon. “It’s not officially listed yet, but we have every reason to assume it will be within two months,” she said.
Being named to the National Register of Historic Places is a purely honorary title, meant to formally recognize a property’s historical, architectural, or archeological significance based on national standards. This national list includes more than 90,000 properties and historically significant sites in the United States deemed worthy of preservation. Historians, teachers, and hobbyists can access the list at www.nps.gov/nr/research and visit the sites.
A listing on the National Register is an honor, but it offers no protections for the property or rules for its future use. According to the National Parks website: “A listing in the National Register places neither restrictions nor requirements on a private property owner.”
A listing on the National Register may not last forever, and properties on the Register can be sold or demolished as the property owner wishes. In fact, at the same meeting that the board recommended St. Margaret Mary and six other sites across Tennessee be named to the Register, it also voted to remove a property from the Register that had been partially demolished and fallen into disrepair.
Harbison, who fell in love at first sight with St. Margaret Mary and even considered having her wedding there, said she hopes the National Register designation will ensure its preservation into the future. She told Father Kyabuta and the Gallaghers, “It’s because of the care you’ve taken of the church that it’s able to be listed.”