ENDEAVOR — In Columbia County in the small town of Endeavor, a small shrine has sat neglected, overgrown, and mostly forgotten for decades.
Now, Fr. Dale Grubba, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Princeton and St. James Parish in Neshkoro, is in the process of restoring the property in the hopes that this historic location will become a place of pilgrimage.
The shrine’s origin
“Born out of love and necessity,” as the shrine’s website describes, the sanctuary originally served migrant workers who came to farm the mucklands of the region. They came from Puerto Rico, Mexico, the West Indies, and Texas in the early 1950s, had little knowledge of English, and struggled to feel welcomed even in the local Catholic parishes.
Recognizing an unmet need, Bishop William O’Connor of Madison sent vicar general Msgr. Jerome Hastrich to the area to come up with a solution to the problem.
“What happened was that in 1958, the diocese began a mission there,” said Father Grubba. “At first, it was sort of a trailer house with the back end of it opened up.”
The trailer-chapel, “La Capilla de Santa Fe” (Chapel of Holy Faith), had a portable altar and pews made out of cement blocks and planks. A summer school program was offered the following summer and was followed by the building of an official chapel, a hillside Stations of the Cross, a medical center, and an outdoor mosaic grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The migrant center would eventually become known as “La Casa de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe” or Our Lady of Guadalupe House.
“This is the original Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wisconsin,” said Father Grubba.
Falling into disrepair
Eventually, though, as decades passed, farming became mechanized.
“All of a sudden, there weren’t the migrant workers here and the place just was neglected,” said Father Grubba.
In 2003, the diocese sold the property to a local group to use as a community center, but a few years ago, the group reached out to Father Grubba to ask him if he’d be open to preserving the site.
“About four or five years ago, they called me, and they said, ‘You know, we’ve all grown old, and we’re thinking of who would be interested in preserving this thing and bringing it back to life,’” he said. “’We know you grew up in this community, and so we thought you would be the one to do it.’”
Certainly, Father Grubba had been involved with busing migrant children to and from the property, so he had a connection to the site. Though in his 80s, Father Grubba agreed to take on the project.
“Whenever anybody has said you can’t do something, I say I can do it,” he explained.
But, this isn’t to say he didn’t have his doubts.
“When I walked around here and looked at everything . . . this was all overgrown with bush and trees and whatnot,” he said. “Many of the people in Endeavor didn’t even know that it existed anymore, let alone people from outside of town. I kind of looked and said ‘What have I gotten myself into?’”
The restoration
The property is approximately a one-acre lot which includes a parking lot, chapel, event center, and grotto. Once completed, these restored buildings and structures will be surrounded by gardens, two main walking paths including an outdoor Stations of the Cross, and a picnic area.
Most recently, the restoration of the grotto shrine has been completed.
“If we didn’t do something that summer, the whole thing was going to collapse from its own weight,” said Father Grubba.
The structure is about 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide.
“It is much bigger than you’d expect,” said Father Grubba.
To make the structure stable again, iron beams were secured along the back sides and another wall was built. Cement was poured between the beams and the two walls.
“That secured it pretty well, but all it did was secure it,” said Father Grubba.
The following summer of 2020, the mosaic on the front of the grotto structure was resecured to the grotto structure.
“We found out that the mosaic itself had pulled away from the cement blocks by about a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch, so we had to drill holes in the mosaic and then pump epoxy in between the mosaic and the cement wall,” said Father Grubba.
Revisiting history
In July of this year, the original two Religious Sisters who designed and built the mosaic returned to the site to revisit their restored creation. They spoke to a few dozen people who’d gathered on the grounds to listen to them speak about their experiences at the mission and with building the mosaic.
Back in 1964, the two Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters were known as Sister Grationa and Sister Lucan. Now, both in their 80s, they are known as Sr. Joanne Daley and Kathleen Stagney. Stagney left the Dominican Order and eventually married in 1973.
“I thought it would have already been demolished,” said Stagney.
She was delighted to know the mosaic was still around.
“The reason it was done here was to honor the migrant workers’ beautiful love for Our Lady of Guadalupe,” said Stagney. “It’s a very strong tradition for them, and it was an honor to help them feel like they were at home.”
Father Grubba said he has a lot of hope for the project. “I really feel that the Blessed Mother wants this project done, otherwise it wouldn’t be rolling out as smoothly as it is.”
Visit www.ourladyofguadalupewi.com to learn more about the shrine and to make a donation to the restoration project.