City begins condemnation process for church land

The city of Arvada is working toward condemning a church property in Olde Town to build a parking lot for the new Arvada Library set to open this fall.

Arvada City Council approved an ordinance to use eminent domain if needed to acquire the lot owned by Shrine of St. Anne's Catholic Church. A public hearing is set for 7:30 p.m. on July 10.

However, City Manager Craig Kocian said negotiations are ongoing with the church.

"It's still entirely possible that there will be an agreement between the parish and the city," he said.

Negotiations between the two have been ongoing for about 18 months for the 35,500-square-foot lot at Webster Street and West 57th Avenue.

Kocian said condemnation proceedings had to be started if talks didn't work out so parking space would be available in time for the library's opening.

While Kocian was optimistic about reaching a deal, the attorney representing the church in negotiations, Robert Frie, was not.

"The message I'm getting loud and clear is that the City Council's made up its mind," Frie said. "They're condemning this even though the city owns a piece of property of equal size that is adjacent to this and could build their parking ramp on that structure."

The city land near the church is planned as a site for future housing, city officials have said.

Church officials will meet with some parents and the parish council this week to inform them of the latest news, Frie said.

Although few details were available, the last potential agreement was a 15-year lease, with a 15-year renewal option at the city's behest, said Bill Ray, deputy city manager.

City officials did not release how much the city would pay for the lease and had said it was under negotiations.

If the council approves the condemnation after the July 10 public hearing, then the city will take steps to sue the church for the property, Frie said.

SHRINE OF ST. ANNE (1920)

"The most impressive small church in America," crowed the Arvada Enterprise on December 1, 1921, was being built in that Jefferson County town and would house "the largest relic of St. Anne in the United States."

St. Anne's site in downtown Arvada was purchased by Bishop Tihen from William Gunther for $1,000. Harry James Manning, a leading Denver architect, designed the $125,000 beauty, inspired by Quebec's Basilica of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré.. Parishioners had excavated the site before the J. K. Mullen Construction Company went to work.

Bishop Tihen, who had brought St. Anne's wrist bone back from Europe for the shrine, dedicated the church on June 25, 1922. Arvada Catholics, who had been organized as a mission of Holy Family parish since 1914, left the little upstairs hall where they had been meeting above the First National Bank for their magnificent new home.

"The church is a gem," proclaimed the Denver Catholic Register. "Its architectural lines are unusual, and while in one or two of its features, like the terra cotta work, the edifice almost approaches the bizarre, yet there is around it such an air of piety and true Catholic conservatism." Some called the style Renaissance revival, others fancied it Lombardic Romanesque. Few remained unimpressed with the hulking, vertical shape, looming skyward in red pressed brick, glazed blue and white terra cotta trim, and variegated roof tiles. Inside, the church was surprisingly small and cozy, with rosy, translucent Romanesque windows rising into the barrel-arch ceiling. The soaring single bell tower housed the shrine. At night, a light shone on top of the church tower, then Jefferson County's tallest building. Soon, this pilgrimage church was attracting the sick and the handicapped and became the reason, according to the Arvada Enterprise, that the road from Denver was paved.

The Shrine of St. Anne also attracted the hooded eyes of the Ku Klux Klan, which met on nearby Hackberry Hill. These spooks burned crosses in front of the shrine and harrassed Walter Grace, the first pastor. The Klan and its sympathizers took glee in charging Father Grace with forging an altar wine permit and serving wine socially during the prohibition era, for which he served two years in prison.

In August 1925, several thousand Klansmen marched through the streets of Arvada. In reply, thousands of Catholics led by the Knights of Columbus and Holy Name societies from throughout Denver countermarched from Regis College to St. Anne's for an outdoor Mass. Shortly afterwards, the Klan collapsed. The shrine survived, though its small congregation wrestled with a large debt, particularly during the depression. Over twenty-five different pastors and copastors followed Father Grace, including Jesuits, Benedictines, and Claretians, all of whom struggled at the beautiful but impoverished church. Until 1948, when the parish finally could afford to build a rectory, its priests lived in the church basement.

Not until the 1950s did Arvada begin to boom, becoming the third largest and one of the most progressive of Denver's suburbs, with its own historical society, well-preserved downtown historic district, and an outstanding arts and humanities center. Between 1955 and 1960, the number of registered parish households climbed from 550 to 1,200, necessitating additions to the church. Even after the creation of two other Arvada parishes in 1967 and 1973, the Shrine of St. Anne retained over 2,000 households. It is the dominant landmark of the Olde Town, and, in 1960, built a sixteen-room, $329,000, boxy, buff brick school at 7320 Grant Place was built.

In 1987, when many parochial schools had closed or were declining in enrollment, St. Anne's had 400 students, nineteen lay teachers, and kindergarten through eighth grades. That year, the parish undertook a $1-million expansion to add a new library, science laboratory, gym, kindergarten, and computer classroom. Walker Nickless, the pastor, told the Denver Catholic Register, "There's nothing greater than being able to help parents with the religious and academic life of their children."

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