Foreward:

Since its construction in 1846 by Father John Sweeney, the original rectory for St. Michael's Parish has been an Episcopal residence, Chatham's first Hotel Dieu Hospital, and St. Joseph's Preparatory School for Boys. After a fire threatened the structure in 1979, St. Michael's Museum Association moved the Museum to its present site at 10 Howard Street in Chatham. Following its relocation, the building has housed the museum, the archives and genealogy centre, and the religious education office. In the early 1860's, it housed St. Michael's Male Academy, and it is thus the cradle of St. Thomas University.