Developing, fostering, and promoting art and music
in Chelsea, Michigan and the surrounding areas.

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Our History

Actor Jeff Daniels and his wife, Kathleen, briefly turned themselves into schoolmaster by purchasing St. Mary's School just outside Chelsea's downtown. The couple donated the building to the Chelsea Center for the Development of the Arts on July 8th, 1998, giving the previous nomadic organization a permanent home to house its music and arts program.

"I was very surprised by the offer," said Steve Hinz, executive director of CCA and a music teacher in Chelsea school district. "We had been calling ourselves a center without a building, so this really puts us forward as a true center of the arts...Daniels' donation was the result of three months of talking with St. Mary's Catholic Church after the parish put the school up for sale in April. The church no longer needed the building since it built a new parish center to house it religious education programs.

At the time Daniels was looking to expand the Purple Rose Theater's capacity or use the facility for an acting school, but zoning concerns kept him from buying the building. But when the Rev. David Dupuis, who was priest of St. Mary's at the time wrote him a letter saying the breakdown of the deal was a loss for children in the community, Daniels reconsidered.

Building History

1928

Father Van Dyke returned to Chelsea in 1928 and served until 1936. Father John Nagle was sent to the parish for a few months in 1936.

1919

Father Henry Van Dyke came here for the first time. Father Thomas Fallon came to Chelsea in 1924, serving until 1928 It was during his stay that the first school burned (Feburary 1925) and the present school building was built.

1902

It's hard to tell when Our Lady of the Sacred Hart become known as St. Mary's. In 1902, the booklet quoted in the section on Our Lady of the Sacred Heart had St. Mary's in its title. In 1913, the Parish report to the diocese lists the official name as our Lady of the Sacred Hart. The names seemed to be used by choice over a period of several years in the early 1900s.

Under Father Considine's guidance, though, the church seemed to be thriving. Having started at Sylvan with 25 members, the report for 1913 mentions that there were now 180 families in the parish, half of which were German and half of which were Irish.

Father Crowley came to Chelsea to assist Father Considine in 1916.