Saint Luke Church

St. Luke Church in Rangeley was blessed by Bishop Louis Walsh in 1922 but had actually been in use for seven years prior to that. In 1914, Father Thomas McLaughlin, then pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Farmington, purchased property in Rangeley and had a large barn converted into a chapel. He celebrated the first Mass there on July 19, 1914.

At the time of the church's blessing by Bishop Walsh on September 3, 1922, it was described as "a very neat and well-equipped chapel, having a beautiful altar, statues, Stations of the Cross, and all of the other requirements, all being gifts from Catholic summer visitors."

Some of those visitors were employees of J.P. Morgan & Company, a New York banking & investment firm. The company owned Spring Lake Camps in Stratton, about 20 miles away, where its employees vacationed during the summer months. The employees traveled to Rangeley to attend Mass prior to the building of St. John Church.