St. Jean Baptiste Church ground cleared

By Grant Cree

Heavy equipment operators with W4 Contracting removed large piles of concrete and debris from January 10 to 14. That week’s warmer weather enabled workers to mobilize a large excavator, two dump trucks, and a tri-axle dump truck to clear out the rubble.

The trucks delivered numerous massive loads of concrete to a recycling facility in Edmonton  where it was treated and cleaned. “It’s quite the process,” said Jesse Henderson, owner of W4 contracting based in Spruce Grove. “We haul it all to a guy in Edmonton, then he crushes it, and it’s all recycled into a landfill.”

The church’s insurance company hired W4 Contracting to handle demolition and excavation. “After that, it’s onto the next phase for rebuilding, and I think that starts this spring,” said Henderson. “But we’re not part of that; all we’re doing is the demolition and backfilling the hole.”

Several local groups are fundraising to rebuild St. Jean Baptiste Church after it was destroyed by fire on June 30, 2021. The 114-year-old parish was a beloved landmark in Morinville, and now there are numerous campaigns to rebuild the parish and community gathering place. 

According to Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Father Jean-Baptiste Morin led several Francophone families from Quebec in 1891 to what is now the Morinville area. Construction began in 1894 on a church featuring an ornate brick building with a steep gable roof, tall central steeple with flanking towers and stained-glass windows.

The heritage value is associated with French religious culture, connected with the majestic architectural traditions in Quebec. The St. Jean Baptiste Church was completed in 1907, and the first Mass was held on January 1, 1908.