In 1870 Bishop Bethune laid the cornerstone for the first stone church in Sault Ste. Marie, called St. Luke's. It was Sault Ste. Marie's first Anglican Church. Prior to its construction, James Chance had been serving as a missionary to the Garden River Reserve, ministering to congregation by canoe and sailboat in summer and snowshoes in winter. In 1854 he began a fund-raising campaign to build a permanent church in Sault Ste. Marie and, in 1859, the Crown deeded property to the Bishop of Toronto for this express purpose. Chance was a relentless fund-raiser. He even managed to get the British Army, under the command of Colonel Garnet and Major Rounthwaite, to give generously towards construction costs when they passed through on their way to the North-west Rebellion in 1869. They later served as honour guards when it was time to lay the cornerstone. Within ten years, the small church was enlarged to accommodate the growing congregation. Transepts to the north and south were added as well as a chancel to the east and a belfry at the west. These modifications moved the entrance from Brock Street to Albert Street. In 1896, it was consecrated as a Pro-Cathedral. In 1902, St. Luke's suffered the first of two fires, the second occurring only one year later. Neither were very serious, unlike the third which happened in 1952. Plans had been discussed for years to build a new and larger cathedral, though not much progress was made. After the third fire, the congregation threw all their efforts into rebuilding St. Luke's, including raising $64,000 during a twelve-hour vigil on Sunday, December 21, 1952. C.F.T. Rounthwaite, grandson of Major Rounthwaite, was hired as architect of the new cathedral and he set about incorporating what was left of the historic wall, the south transept, the intervening south wall and the bell tower into his design. St. Luke's Cathedral is constructed of local, red-streaked sandstone. One and one half tons of laminated trusses, used in the reconstruction in the 1950's, are exposed within the structure. The cathedral's most impressive feature is a 25-foot stained-glass window behind the altar, created by Angus MacDonald. Constructed of glass accumulated from several countries, the window is one of the most impressive works in modern stained glass to have been commissioned in Canada. St. Lukes was also supposed to receive two other valuable stained-glass windows. Dating from the time of Oliver Cromwell, they had been rescued from London churches destroyed during the Blitz, in World War II. Removed and carefully wrapped, these were among many such windows congregants in England buried underground to protect and preserve them from enemy fire. Those that could not be replaced in their church of origin were sent to North American churches. The two intended for St. Luke's could not be placed and in turn were installed in St. John's and St. Peter's Churches, also in Sault Ste. Marie. There are many other items of beauty and historical significance in St. Luke's Cathedral, including the memorial windows in the east wall. Plaques recognizing Charles Vernon Plummer, William H. Plummer, Sir James Dunn and other prominent local people also line the walls. 1995 marked the 125th anniversary of St. Luke's. The year-long celebration began with the firing of the same cannon that used to signal the arrival and departure of the missionary ship The Evangeline. Bishop Sullivan, the Bishop of Algoma, used this ship in the late 1800s to carry out his duties along the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron. The story of St. Luke's Cathedral is one firmly grounded in history, yet a tiny' representation soared into the heavens aboard a United States space shuttle, in 1992. Dr. Roberta Bondar carried aboard the Discovery a St. Luke's cloth crest for Dean Robertson. The Diocese of Algoma cloth crest was representative of the parish of the Bondar family.