Petoskey, Michigan (AP)

On what now is the city’s waterfront, a group of area Catholics is working to restore a 146-year-old mission that has been showing visible signs of decay in recent years.

The St. Francis Solanus Indian Mission is overseen by St. Francis Xavier Church. Cracks have appeared in the mission’s foundation and interior plaster, while shingles, windows and siding show their age.

“We believe that the restoration of this St. Francis Solanus Church is not simply in the interest of the Catholic Church, but of Petoskey,” the Rev. Dennis Stilwell told the Petoskey News-Review for a recent story. “It’s part of the history of Petoskey.”

The building more than a century ago stopped being the primary church for local American Indians and early settlers. And Stilwell, St. Francis Xavier’s pastor, said the building’s condition prompted parish officials in 2004 to stop using it for Mass on special occasions.

Earlier this year, a committee began work toward organizing a restoration project.

The wooden mission building was constructed in 1859 by Jean Baptiste Trotochaud, a carpenter living nearby. Bishop Frederic Baraga, who had established Catholic missionary efforts, had sought Trotochaud’s services.

The mission was the third building for Catholic worship around an American Indian village where Petoskey would later be established. The property includes a graveyard.

St. Francis Xavier parishioner and Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa member Jane Martell, who is among those involved in the restoration work, said she hopes to help ensure that the cemetery is preserved.

“There are our ancestors buried there,” she said. “It’s sacred ground.”

On the Net:

St. Francis Xavier Parish: http://www.petoskeystfrancis.org