Historic Rochester Church Undergoes Some Steeple Work
Over the last 100 years the North Clinton Ave. neighborhood in Rochester has changed a lot.
What has not changed has been the church that still stands in its center. After so many years, St. Michael's of Rochester is getting some much-needed care.
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Considered by many a church of immigrants, St. Michael's was founded by German Catholics and today is home to an ever-growing Hispanic community.
The church inside and out has largely remained the same since it first built in 1890. In 2012, church leaders are repairing the steeple.
"Over a course of a century-worth of wear from weather and so on, we have a number of broken slate shingles up there and copper has degraded to the point that it had to be replaced and repaired," said Jim Kinsman, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish Director of Finance.
Kinsman said if they waited any longer, water could've started leaking in, damaging beams and bells in the steeple. So after a year of planning and $180,000, they called in specialists.
Using a 130-ton crane, workers were suspended over the steeple to replace and repair those shingles and copper.
The work has taken more than a month to complete.