Last month launched a year-long celebration of the 175th anniversary of St. Mary’s of the Lake in Skaneateles. Bishop Francis Lucia, the Catholic bishop of Syracuse celebrated Mass, in the church in the village, joined by several hundred parishioners and guests.

The origins of St Mary’s of the Lake began in 1848, when Mass was said in the home of Patrick McCormick in the first block of Fennell Street. The original Catholic parish included Camillus, Marcellus, Jordan, Baldwinsville, and Skaneateles. 

In 1855, land was purchased on the corner of Austin and Jordan Streets, and a wooden church was built and dedicated as St. Mary’s of the Lake. Disaster struck St. Mary’s in 1866, as a defective flue in the chimney caused a fire, and the church burned to the ground. 

A new, brick St. Mary’s of the Lake church was built on the Austin and Jordan site soon after and dedicated in 1867, This structure stood for 59 years and then suffered the fate of its predecessor.  On February 10, 1926, it, too, burned to the ground.

The parish collected the insurance and gathered funds for a new church. During the construction phase, Mass was celebrated in the Huxford Theater, later known as the Colonial Theater, and now residential condos on Genesee Street. The present church and rectory were dedicated in 1927.

Outside St. Mary’s is the beautiful Grotto that affords a place to stop for a quiet moment. Built of fieldstone, collected by the high school students of St. Mary’s, it holds the statue of the Blessed Virgin. This was built with the guidance of a Polish priest, once imprisoned at Dachau who promised this in gratitude for his freedom. 

St. Mary’s of the Lake today is a welcome presence in the community…for worship and for generations of families celebrating marriages, baptisms, faith formation for children and young adults, comfort for the sick and dying. St. Mary’s provides support from parishioners for the Food Pantry, Human Development, a sandwich ministry, and assistance to St. Anthony of Padua’s parish on the city’s south side.