Featured Windows, March 2002

Little Stone Church Windows

Building: Little Stone Church, Union Congregational Church

City: Mackinac Island

State: Michigan


Scenes representing the history of Mackinac Island.

These three windows at the Little Stone Church represent scenes in the history of Mackinac Island.

The window on the left depicts Robert Stuart, a longtime agent on Mackinac Island for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Trading Company, conferring with voyageurs. Stuart, wearing a blue coat, points to a scroll that may be an account of their business dealings.

The window on the right portrays Presbyterian missionary William Ferry, who headed the Island's Indian Mission from 1823 to 1834, ministering to several Indians, whose homes can be seen in the background.

The window above represents Shusco, an Indian conjurer converted to Christianity by Reverend Ferry, reading his Bible to other Native Americans. The three windows are dedicated to Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard of Chicago, who spent ten years on the Island during the 1800s. Installed in 1914, all fourteen windows of the church were made by the Lamb Studios, founded in 1857 and now the oldest continuously operating stained glass studio in the United States. To view other windows that document early Michigan events involving Native Americans, visit the Windows of the Month for November 1997 and September 1998.

Known formally as Union Congregational Church, the Little Stone Church was built of local stone in 1905 by the Union Church Society, which had organized in August of 1899. The architect was Asbury W. Buckley of Chicago and the contractor was Koepke Brothers of Petoskey. During its early years, the church was served by Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational ministers. Its formal name reflects the ecumenical spirit of the founders and their leaders. The Little Stone Church, a registered Michigan Historic Site, celebrated the centennial of its founding congregation in 1999.

Little Stone Church of Mackinac Island was registered in the Michigan Stained Glass Census by Lorabeth Fitzgerald of Grand Ledge.

(MSGC 1994.0148)

Text by Betty MacDowell, Michigan Stained Glass Census, March , 2002.