R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press Gallery Director Kate Oman of the Bonifas Arts Center inspects a section of an illustration for the 1991 cartoon map of Escanaba.

ESCANABA — It’s been half a century since the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center was founded in 1974. The arts center, which occupies the Romanesque structure originally built to house a Catholic school auditorium on the northwest corner of South 7th Street and 1st Avenue South, is celebrating “50 Years in the Making” by honoring the past, present and future of culture and creativity in Delta County.

The site of the church that is now St. Joseph’s & St. Patrick’s used to house a wooden St. Joseph’s Church. In 1884, St. Joseph’s High School opened in the adjacent lot to the west, now the parking lot for the merged church, and was the first faith-based high school in town. It was rebuilt in 1915 following a fire. Two decades later, high enrollment at St. Joe’s called for greater space.

In the late 1930s, construction began of two structures on either side of 1st Avenue South on 7th Street. The one on the north — now the Bonifas Arts Center — was built to supplement the school as its gymnasium and auditorium. Said building was the first of the two to be erected, and the gymnasium housed church services while St. Joseph’s Church was razed and its replacement went up. Both Romanesque-style buildings were of Kasota stone, and both retain their outward appearance today.

Funding for the two impressive buildings was provided by Catherine Bonifas following the death of her husband, William Bonifas, in 1936. The couple had both been poor, first-generation immigrants — she from Ireland, he from Luxembourg — who met at a logging camp on the Garden Peninsula. Together, they gradually built a name for themselves after a succession of shrewd investments, including the purchase of timberland and stocks in General Motors, Kimberly-Clark and International Cellucotton Products Corporation (the inventor of Kleenex). Catherine donated portions of their fortune to a number of projects, largely those with educational or religious value, mostly in Escanaba.

St. Joe’s school closed in 1954 upon the opening of Holy Name High School. In 1971, the old schoolhouse was torn down. The building that had been the gym and auditorium was used simply as storage for a time, until a group of creatives saw its potential.

In 1973, a collective that included the Bay Area Art Association and Players de Noc organized to come up with an idea for a center for the arts. At the time, artists’ workshops, classes, performances and exhibits were held at various community rooms, nursing homes, businesses and restaurants in the area; finding venues was a perpetual challenge. Together, the guilds sought a space they could make their own.

“They all kind of approached the city and the diocese and got the building for a one-dollar lease,” said Gallery Director Kate Oman at the Bonifas Arts Center. “As long as the building is used for the arts, we’re allowed to stay here.”

In 1974, when the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center was incorporated, the community came together to transform the building. A pit was dug out of the sand under the stage, which has been raised and extended. Over the years, renovations have been made to put up walls, install a kitchen, convert the upper level into classroom and gallery space and more. Emergency exit doors went in; windows were covered — after all, sunlight is an enemy to many forms of art.

The Bonifas, a nonprofit, absorbed the Bay Area Art Association in 2012. Players de Noc — another nonprofit, made up entirely of volunteers — works with the Bonifas, leasing the building from them during theatrical productions, of which there are about four per year presently. Dozens of classes are held throughout the year at the arts center.

A board of trustees oversees general operations and assists the gallery director, according to Allen Hansen, president of the Bonifas Board of Trustees.

“p4″>”Sometimes the board volunteers to help out at different events and occasions when called upon…  Usually our program directors and our events coordinator do a ton of work doing that, but we help out when we can,” said Hansen. “We rely on a lot of volunteers to help us continuously through the year.”

For the 50th anniversary, a number of “retro” classes — utilizing the same media as some of the first classes held at the Bonifas — will take place. These include macrame, stained glass, pottery, and weaving. Lessons in cooking, dance, printmaking, fiber arts, jewelry crafting, photography, felting, gardening, painting and sculpting are all scheduled for 2024 as well.

Annual events organized by the Bonifas Arts Center include an art auction, the Waterfront Arts Festival in Ludington Park, the year-end Northern Exposure, and a fundraising gala.

This year’s “Golden Gala,” held at the House of Ludington in June, will be the culmination of “50 Years in the Making.” The gala is always the center’s biggest fundraiser of the year, but they hope to make this one particularly special.

“We hope to make an even bigger and better event than we’ve ever had before, because we’re celebrating 50 years,” Hansen said. “It’s a big celebration of having the building and the facility and having it in the community, which is we think a real plus for Escanaba and the surrounding areas.”

A short film on the history of the Bonifas Arts Center has been in production and should be released within a month or two, Oman said.

The visual exhibit “50 Years in the Making: Past, Present and Future” will be on display at the Bonifas from April 4 to May 2.

Select items from the Bonifas Arts Center’s permanent collection are out on loan and displayed at Upper Peninsula Michigan Works! and Escanaba City Hall.