Mount Saint Michael, National Register Historic District in Spokane, United States.
Mount Saint Michael is a four-story Tudor-Gothic building constructed in 1915 in the shape of a T, with a chapel, dining room, kitchen, gymnasium, physics and chemistry labs, lecture halls and residences. A three-story west wing added in 1929 housed 100 more students and a library. The east wing now serves as a cloistered residence for sisters, while the west wing contains offices, a gift shop, a library and Saint Michael's Academy.
Construction began in 1915 when Jesuit leaders established this seminary on a large rural property and combined it with farming operations to support nearby educational institutions. The agricultural roots eventually gave way to expansion focused on religious education and community services.
The second-floor chapel serves as the parish and school church, where the Tridentine Mass is celebrated solemnly. The west wing holds a religious gift shop with traditional Catholic books and goods, and the east wing is a cloistered residence for the sisters of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen.
The site sits on a 320-foot bluff reached by a road; Father Arthuis built a 1,100-foot railroad to haul materials up during the 1915 construction. The west wing holds the CMRI offices, gift shop, library and Saint Michael's Academy, while the east wing is a cloistered sisters' residence closed to visitors. The second-floor chapel is used for the Tridentine Mass.
Beneath the property lies a seismological monitoring station with instruments that have been recording Earth movements since the 1920s, making it an unexpected center for scientific research. Few visitors realize that this religious landmark also serves the scientific community through continuous geological observations.
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