A well-traveled cross finds a home in Roseville

by Susan Barksdale

Other than the Bishop and the Canon Missioners, perhaps one of the most-traveled “Episcopalians” in our diocese may be a twelve-foot-plus cross that was originally created for the University Episcopal Center (then St. Timothy’s House and Holy Trinity) in 1957. After being displayed in two different UEC locations and two area Episcopal churches, the cross is now “at home” for the foreseeable future hanging in an airy two-story entry area at St. Christopher’s, Roseville.

The UEC cross is 12 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 600 pounds. It is made of 669 pieces of bronze. Seven thicknesses of eighth-inch overlays were soldered together to form this piece of art. It was a commission that was monitored by Lloyd Hatch, then chair of the board.

The cross was designed by Warren Mosiman of Ellerbe and Company and constructed at George Shetka and Sons in St. Paul. A November 1957 article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press told the story of its creation — and of the effect it had on those who fashioned it.

“The spirit of the work caught hold of all the employees at Shetka’s. Salesmen, customer, or just plain passerby — they were all ushered into the bit shop with its clanging sounds to see the cross. ‘Ah, yes, you have come to see it,’ a man in the office would say, in almost reverent tone.”

Work on the cross had been “a morale builder for everybody here,” said one Shetka’s official. On the Sunday before it was installed, employees had even brought their families to see it. The cross was installed in November 1957.

In the 1970s, economic issues forced the UEC to rent out its building and move to smaller rented quarters nearby. At that time, the huge cross was taken to a temporary home as St. David’s, Minnetonka. When the UEC returned to its former building in 1983, the cross came back as well. It hung in the chapel until that building was demolished in 2001, to make way for a new building on the same site with the UEC on the ground floor and student housing above.

When the UEC’s new building was being constructed, it looked as if there might be no room for the towering cross. But Meredith Hatch Robinson, daughter of Lloyd Hatch, insisted that a place be found for this significant piece of UEC history. Architect John Cuningham created a niche for it in the entry area near the new chapel.

Not all plans come to fruition as hoped for, however, and the large new building did not work out economically for the campus ministry organization. In 2007, the UEC moved to rented quarters once again. Its former space will now be occupied by the University Department of International Studies. At present, the UEC shares office space with Lutheran Campus Ministries and holds weekly worship at the campus-area YMCA. The chapel in the 17th Avenue building was deconsecrated. It was time for the cross to travel again.

The UEC cross had traveled west and south, and this time it headed north. St. Christopher’s, Roseville, has a new gathering space opening onto its lower-level parking lot, including an open two-story entry area — an ideal place for such a large work of art. It now hangs freely from the upper level and can be seen from many angles. “We are happy to give the cross a new temporary home,” says rector Michael Hanley.

Furthermore, the cross has undergone a makeover. St. Christopher’s parishioner Jim Richards has continued the care that was begun by the original craftsmen in the 1950s, restoring the cross to its former beauty. As a bonus, Jim even restored one of Christ’s missing eyebrows, which he had lost somewhere in all of his travels.