(Michigan City, IN) - A once bustling historic church best known in more recent times as a public safety threat has been torn down in Michigan City.

 

God’s Grace Church at 301 E. Barker Ave. was condemned by the city after barricades had been placed around the structure in November from the risk of a bulging brick exterior wall collapsing.

 

Minister Lisa Jackson appealed to local officials then for additional time to obtain a cost estimate to see if the necessary repairs were financially within reach of her congregation’s budget.

 

Time ran out as demolition crews moved in Wednesday and knocked it down.

 

Longtime residents in the neighborhood are feeling both a sense of loss and understanding.

 

“It’s a little sad but it had to come down,” said Fred Klinder, who has lived on nearby Belden St. for about the past 25 years.

 

Kathy Stransky, 70, said it’s going to take some adjusting for her to get used to not seeing the church she has practically lived next to since age 4.

 

“It’s been my longtime neighbor,” she said.

 

She never attended the church but she has fond memories that include sitting outside the doors with other kids from the neighborhood and singing along to the songs they could hear being sung during services.

 

“We’d sing with them, Jesus Loves Me, and all kinds of stuff,” she said.

 

Sometimes, Stransky said they were invited inside after services for cookies and juice.

 

Stransky said the more than 100 year old church once had a strong congregation judging by the number of people walking up to the doors and vehicles parked along the streets during services.

 

She said activity at the church held pretty steady but greatly diminished over the past few years.

 

“They were struggling.  There was no doubt they were struggling,” she said.

 

Despite her heartfelt sentiments, Stransky couldn’t overlook her concerns about a building she claimed made “crackling” sounds from loose bricks shifting on windy days.

 

Stransky said she was especially worried about the safety of children in the dense residential neighborhood being next to the wall on their walks to and from school.

 

Also on her mind was the potential of children venturing over to play on a church stairway and falling into a gap between the top of a stairway and back door of the church.

 

Klinder, 81, said he and his wife on their daily walks past the church began noticing the outside wall cracked and bulging a few years ago.

 

His memories of the church date back to when he was a child riding his bicycle to the playground at Marsh Elementary School and seeing people showing up for services at the church across the street.

 

Klinder, a member of the Michigan City Planning Commission, said there’s been considerable effort over the years to position the city better for the future through redevelopment, but the loss of history from demolition is still sad.

 

“This is all part of it, I guess. You got to get rid of the old and get some of the new,” he said.