St. Joseph's Church receives grants for restoration
from the Stockton Sentinel

After three and a half years of gathering information and applying for grants, the St. Joseph's Church in Damar is the recipient of two grants which will help in the restoration of this facility that is on the National Historic Register.

The church will receive $90,000 grant from the Heritage Trust Fund and a $100,000 grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation.  The estimated cost of the restoration is approximately $257,000 with the balance of the cost to come from the patrons of the church.

The cost of the restoration has come a long way from the original construction of the church, which was completed from 1912-1917 at the entire cost of $30,000.  The labor was donated by the congregation and the limestone used for the facade was quarried in Waldo. 

St. Joseph's had been renovated in 1946-1950 when the present stained glass windows were installed by the TC Esser Company Stained Glass Studios out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The entire bid for the windows was $13,000, which now would not even cover the cost of one window. 

The main focus of the restoration will be repairing the schglioia, called a poor man's marble, that covers the pillar supports in the church.  It is gypsum mixed with minerals that is applied to concrete, then dried, sanded and polished to look like marble.  The cost of this part of the project will be around $206,000. 

The restoration could begin as early as December of this year, and is slated to take six to seven months to complete.