In 1864-65, under the leadership of Father Francis VanderBom, the present brick church was completed at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars. Bricks for the church were hand-formed and hauled to the site by church women.

In 1925 the local Rotary Club decided that a luxurious establishment was needed to accommodate a large number of tourists and serve as a civic and social center.

This red-brick, stone-faced structure was built in 1879 by Samuel Hopkins on land donated by his son William. Founded in 1833, its congregation is the oldest continuing one in St. Clair County.

Around 1852 the first meetinghouse was built here on land donated by the village board of supervisors. That church burned in 1870. The present Romanesque-inspired church was erected three years later.

Salt exploration and extraction began in St. Clair County as early as 1863. Several people tried to make drilling cost-effective. The St. Clair Rock Salt Company came together in 1886, later becoming Diamond Crystal Salt Company.

Enter the doors of the St. Clair Historical Museum and travel back more than 250 years to the community’s beginning as a British Fort, moving to its days as a Michigan lumbering and brick manufacturing mecca, through its transition to salt purification, and shipbuilding.