Our parish history begins in 1849, when early missionaries held Masses in Stillwater homes. The Church of St. Michael, one of the oldest parishes in Minnesota, has a long and rich tradition, beginning with its early days as a community of Irish immigrants working in the lumbering city of Stillwater.

In the summer of 1853, Bishop Joseph Cretin sent the young Rev. Daniel Fisher to establish a parish in the thriving lumbering community of Stillwater, on the banks of the St. Croix River. Many of the founding families are still present in the community nearly ten generations later.

Since the inception of the church in 1853, the parishioners of St. Michael’s have learned and lived the Catholic faith. Over the last 150-plus years, generations of the faithful have gathered, day after day and year after year, to worship, receive Jesus, reach out, comfort, and pass on the gift of our Catholic faith. We are a vibrant parish family, proud of our heritage and grateful for the many gifts our Heavenly Father has bestowed upon us.