Sacred Heart Church

Sacred Heart Church was founded on August 6, 1893 in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Prior to its founding, Catholics in the Grand Cities attended services at either St. Michael’s Church in Grand Forks or smaller services in public buildings in East Grand Forks hosted by missionaries. On August 6, 1893, a visiting priest, the Rev. P. J. Hendrick, held a service, following which a committee was formed by a group of East Grand Forks Catholics to begin planning for the construction of a church building. The men on the committee were P. J. Kelly, Jacob Lobsinger, H. P. Gies, Hugh Dunlevy, Leon Supernant, and J. T. Sullivan. The committee raised funds to purchase a small piece of land on what is today 3rd St. NW in East Grand Forks, land that is still occupied by Sacred Heart Parish to this day. Construction on the first church building began in September of 1894. The construction cost between $10,000 and $11,000 and lasted about one year. The church is described to have been 40 feet wide, 103 feet long, and 120 feet tall at the top of its spire. It was claimed at the time that the spire of the new church was the tallest point in the Grand Cities. The new church could seat between 500 and 600 people and featured stained-glass windows and a 2,020-pound bell donated by parishioners. However, in December of 1895, only a few days after the building’s dedication, a fire began in the basement and destroyed the new church building.

The fire was devastating to the Sacred Heart Parish, however plans were immediately made to construct a replacement. This replacement was eventually completed sometime before 1897. There are few differences between the first church and this replacement, they were both constructed to the same dimensions, using the same materials, on the same piece of land. This replacement church was in use from its 1896-97 construction all the way to the early 1950s. Some remodeling was done during that period, however little information is available on the scope of those remodels.

By the mid-1940s, Monsignor William Klinkhammer, the head pastor of Sacred Heart Parish at the time, recognized the need for both the Sacred Heart Church and School to expand its existing structures to meet the need of the growing Catholic population in the Grand Cities. As his dying wish, Msgr. Klinkhammer requested that the Sacred Heart Parish construct a new church and school building.

The next pastor, Monsignor A. I. Merth, rose to his predecessor’s challenge. Monsignor Merth and a planning committee began planning the new church building beginning in October of 1947. A plan of the scope that Msgr. Merth wanted would require serious fundraising. However, Sacred Heart Parish met the goals of the fundraiser, collecting $200,000 by 1949 and $600,000 by 1950. The expansion of the Sacred Heart campus would require the purchase of more land. As a result, Sacred Heart Parish purchased part of 2nd Ave. NW, then known as Bruce Ave., from East Grand Forks. The existing church building was moved across the street in 1950 as construction began on its replacement.

The new church building, which still stands today, was constructed to the northwest of the church building built in 1896. The new church began construction in June of 1950. Despite several setbacks, such as the devastating flood of 1950 and the Korean War effort, the new church was completed in 1952. Like its predecessor, the current church has undergone several remodels. Most major of which would be the alterations made to the church’s interior following Vatican II in the 1960s. Remodeling actually helped save this building from the devastating 1997 Red River Floods. The church’s interior was repainted in the winter of 1997 and the fresh paint helped prevent the muddy floodwaters from the Red damage the structure of the building. On the exterior, the church looks almost identical to how it looked in 1952, with the exception of new entry doors on the front of the building.

The current church stands today in the middle of what used to be Bruce Avenue. As stated earlier, the current church would be to the northwest, only yards away, of its predecessor. The 1896 church building was moved across the street to what is now the Sacred Heart School parking lot before being sold and demolished sometime in the 1950s.

Sacred Heart School

Almost concurrent with the establishment of Sacred Heart Church there was an attempt to also start a Sacred Heart School. This attempt began in 1895. However, despite this school and the Sacred Heart Church being associated with one-another, the school was located in the basement of the former St. Joseph’s Hospital, which was located at the intersection of Highway 2 and Highway 220. This school was called Sacred Heart of St. Joseph’s and only operated until 1900. It would not be until 1912 that a second attempt would be made.

This second attempt really begins in 1909, when Sacred Heart’s pastor, Father James Greene, suddenly died. In his will, Father Greene left Sacred Heart Parish three plots of land located adjacent to Sacred Heart Church. These plots of land would be used to construct the first Sacred Heart School in 1912. Planning began with the arrival of Msgr. Klinkhammer in July of 1911 with construction beginning that fall. The new school was completed in time for the 1912-1913 school, teaching first grade through eighth grade. The program was expanded in 1918-1919 to include ninth through twelfth grade.

This building would be in use until the 1950s when, like the church, it was replaced by new facilities. Like the church, the school could not adequately handle the burgeoning Catholic population in the Grand Cities and plans were made to replace the building with a larger elementary school and high-school building. Construction on the high school began first, starting in 1951 and finishing in time for the 1952-1953 school year. The elementary students stayed in the 1912 building until their new elementary school building was completed for the 1958-1959 school year. The original 1912 building became the “fine arts” building for the high-school following its disuse as a K-12 school building.

These buildings all stood for 40 more years before the flooding Red River reached them in April 1997. Both the 1912 building and the buildings constructed in the 1950s were destroyed by the flood and were demolished completely in September of 1997. Sacred Heart School students attended classes at a temporary building on Highway 2 in East Grand Forks for the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 school years until construction of the new, existing school building could be completed. The temporary Sacred Heart School building marked the first time since 1912 that Sacred Heart School was located away from its 3rd St. location.

Planning and construction on the new school building began almost immediately after the demolition of the previous buildings. Construction began in 1998 and was completed in time for the Class of 1999 to attend their graduation in the new gymnasium. The new building provided Sacred Heart School a significant increase in space, with the new building boasting 112,600 sq. feet of space in comparison to the 88,000 sq. feet the previous buildings provided. The new building also marks the first time since the 1950s that the high-school and elementary school would be underneath the same roof. The new building has some interesting post-1997 flood quirks as well. Most noticeable is the ring of concrete lining the bottom of the building on 3rd St. This ring raises the new Sacred Heart School three feet above ground level, helping prevent the flood waters that destroyed the old buildings from destroying this new building. The cornerstones from the 1912 building and the 1958 elementary building were moved from their original places to near the doors between the church and school buildings.

A new addition was completed in 2019. This new addition is located on the southeast side of the building, facing Hill St. NW. The addition added six new classrooms, meant to meet the rapidly increasing class sizes in the elementary school and the shrinking class space in the high school.

Andrys, David, A Century of Tradition in Catholic Education: Sacred Heart School, East Grand Forks, Minnesota, 100 Years, 1912-2012. East Grand Forks, 2012.

Fee, Kevin, “WELCOME HOME,” The Herald (Grand Forks, ND), Sept. 3, 1999.

Strandell, Warren et al., A Meeting of the Reds: East Grand Forks 1887-1987. East Grand Forks, 1987, vol. 1, pgs. 256-261.

Strandell, Warren et al., A Meeting of the Reds: East Grand Forks 1887-1987. East Grand Forks, 1987, 2, pgs. 668, 695, 697, 728, 761.

Schmidt, Steve, “SCHOOL'S END COMES AT A NEW BEGINNING AS STUDENTS HEAD OFF TO SACRED HEART'S NEW TEMPORARY SITE, WORKERS TEAR DOWN THE OLD BUILDING,” The Herald (Grand Forks, ND), Sept. 8, 1997.

Tobin, Paulette, “NEW SCHOOL OPENS FOR FIRST DAY,” The Herald (Grand Forks, ND), Sept. 2, 1999.