St. George Melkite Church Building - Local, State & Naional Landmark

Line drawing adapted from a 1948 illustration

In 1915 to raise money for a 'proper' church building, Father Anthony J. Aneed took his quest door-to-door throughout Milwaukee's near west side. The immigrants had continued to move out of eastern Milwaukee and were now most numerous along State Street from Seventh to Twentieth Streets. Aneed hope to establish the church in the midst of the community. Mrs. Clemmy Hase and Miss T.I. Hilty had the perfect lot between 16th and 17th Street. They offered the 150 by 50 foot plot of land on State Street for a third of its assessed value. So that the congregation might have a home while the church was being build those two exceptionally generous ladies provided a house at 1615 State Street. For a consideration of one dollar, the parish bought this home next to the construction site. Later this house was moved and now serves as the parish rectory. To raise the needed funds a Tag Day was held by Mrs. F. F. Adams. The permit signed by Mayor Daniel Hoan, allowed the congregation to raise more than enough money to purchase the lot on March 11th, 1917.

The cornerstone was laid on Sunday September 30th, 1917. Roman Catholic Archbishop Messmer officiated over a dream that had become his own. The church grounds were marked by a wooden cross. Draped with an amice, stole, and cope the Archbishop officiated at the ceremonies. Archbishop Messmer's white linen vestments fluttered in the cool breeze as he spoke, 'Our Lord was one of the children of the East, and we should help these children of the East in their undertaking to rear an edifice for Christian worship.' The ground was exorcised with water and salt, and the air was filled with the voices of Anthony Olinger's Syrian Choir. Reverend Corbinian Penzkofer of Holy Hill addressed the parish in Arabic and in English. The day passed quickly, for now that the work was begun, there could be no stopping. The articles of corporation were drawn on November 28, 1917 and the trustees were installed. The church's first recorded trustees were Richard Herro and Nicholas H. Meyer. On December 3rd the corporation was duly registered with the State and almost before anyone knew it, a new church stood on State Street.

St. George of Milwaukee is the most enduring Melkite Church in the United States: no other parish has grown for seventy-five years in the same building. At the building's dedication in 1917, Father Anthony Aneed explained this community's endurance, when he said the building ''stands as a testimonial of our faith, hopes and fears, and our charities, - - a monument to tireless fidelity to our purpose. It is the result of an Advent spent working for the Lord. It is therefore the real expression of our innermost hearts.''

St. George Melkite Church - The Building