National Register of Historic Places

St. Paul's Mission

Kettle Falls, Ferry County, Washington
Listed
November 20, 1974
Type
Building
Period
Colonial
Ref No.
74002259

About this property

St. Paul's Mission was a Jesuit mission church established in the Hudson's Bay Company's (HBC) Columbia District, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, in the 1830s. The mission was built near the HBC's Fort Colville, on the bluff then overlooking Kettle Falls on the Columbia River. The building still stands today. Both Catholic and Protestant missionaries visited Kettle Falls several times from 1836 on, attempting to convert natives to Christianity. The first missionaries, representatives of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and sponsored by the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, arrived in 1836. They were unable to baptize any Indians. Catholic missionaries, led by French-Canadian Fathers François Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers, arrived in 1838. They delivered the first Catholic mass between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Range in 1839 and baptized 19 Indians, but were unable to establish a permanent mission. Their efforts were more focused on St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, in the Willamette Valley. Following Belgian Father DeSmet's preaching to the Sxoielpi (Colville Indians) in August 1845, a small log chapel was built. Two years later the present hand-hewn log church replaced it. Sometime around 1869, St. Paul's Mission was abandoned in favor of a location seven miles north of the present city of Colville. Damaged by fire in 1910, the present structure was restored in 1939–40. washington.edu Photograph: St. Paul's Indian Mission, near Kettle Falls, Washington, 1888

Location

Kettle Falls, Ferry County, Washington
48.62740, -118.10690

Categories

PREHISTORICHISTORIC - ABORIGINALEXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Columbia River Bridge at Kettle Falls
Industrial
0.5 mi
Meyers Falls Power Plant Historic District
Listed
3.1 mi
Keller House
Industrial
10.5 mi
Colville Flour Mill
Industrial
10.6 mi
Opera House and I. O. O. F. Lodge
Industrial
10.8 mi

Questions about this property

When was St. Paul's Mission listed on the National Register?

St. Paul's Mission was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 1974.

What type of historic resource is St. Paul's Mission?

St. Paul's Mission is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for St. Paul's Mission?

The period of significance for St. Paul's Mission is recorded as the colonial era.

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