The St. Joseph Church had its beginnings in 1854 when Edwin Nichols (husband of Hannah Agen, whose aunt and uncle contributed the land) graded the site and the whole parish helped to build the small fieldstone church. John Lambert, who had experience building stone schools and churches, supervised the construction. The building had hand-made pews and altar, a clay floor and a cross on the roof. It took seven years to build the little church, in part due to interruptions caused by the Civil War. In 1863 Father Edward Ban Lauwe, from the neighboring church in Clinton, said the first Mass.

As a mission church, priests served St. Joseph’s from Manchester, Tecumseh, Hillsdale, Adrian and Clinton. Additions and improvements were made to the church over time. In 1911 a sacristy was added, the windows were replaced with stained glass and a wooden tower was added to the front of the church.

With the paving of the Detroit to Chicago Road in 1925, summer residents and tourists greatly increased the number of people that attended at St. Joseph’s. Enlargement became necessary. Monsignor Joseph V. Pheffer directed the beginning of the enlargement and renovation of the church on St. Joseph’s Day in 1928. The new part of the church was added onto the old part preserving the original church. The new transept and sanctuary transformed the building into a cruciform-plan church. Bishop Michael J. Gallagher dedicated the new church on August 5, 1928. The outdoor shrine was begun shortly after.

When in 1924, Father Joseph Pfeffer promised his congregation that “…TOGETHER we shall build here the finest RURAL CHURCH PROPERTY in the State of Michigan…” he most certainly was thinking of the installation of artwork as part of his plan. In addition to murals and other artwork within the church, St. Joseph Shrine contains some excellent examples of twentieth century American artwork. There are three important art installations on the grounds of the Shrine. They include the Italian, Carrera marble statuary of the crucifixion group and others on the grounds, the Trabajo Rustico, Stations, completed by Raphael Corona, in the 1930’s and the Mission Crafts, tile plaques placed at the stations in the 1950’s.