In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Italian immigrants came to Iron Mountain to work in the iron mines. In 1890, Italian Catholics from the community’s north side organized what was popularly known as the Italian Church and built a frame church near this site. The church burned in 1893 and was rebuilt. In April 1902, Father G. Pietro Sinopoli arrived, formed a church building committee within two months, raised four thousand dollars, and began excavating the foundation in June. The church was completed in December and dedicated to Mary Immaculate of Lourdes on January 1, 1903. Reflecting the heritage and building techniques of the Italian immigrants who erected it, the church features a bell tower fashioned after a campanile and recalls Renaissance parish churches in Italy. Father G. Pietro Sinopoli, the parish priest, is thought to have designed the building. Masons and volunteers hauled sandstone from a quarry one mile south to build the exterior walls, and the Menominee Stained Glass Works created at least three windows, including the choir loft window designed by Father Sinopoli. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.