By Jim Hayden
Correspondent
New Pope Leo XIV went to school in Laketown Township.
Robert Provost, 69, named May 8 the first-ever U.S pontiff, attended St. Augustine Seminary set then in the Felt Mansion, per Felt Estate records.
“We are proud to steward the historic buildings and landscapes of Pope Leo XIV’s formative years,” Felt Director Elizabeth McEwen said.
Construction of the Felt Mansion began in 1925 by Dorr E. Felt, inventor of the Comptometer, the first machine that could do all four math functions — add, subtract, multiply and divide. The building was finished in 1928. Felt’s wife Agnes died that year, Dorr a year-and-a-half later.
The estate was purchased by the Augustinian order in 1949.
“The new seminary, to be known at St. Augustine’s, will be opened in September with an initial enrollment of 50 to 60 candidates for the priesthood,” the Holland City News wrote June 30, 1949, in announcing the acquisition.
At its dedication Sept. 22 that year in the former mansion living room, 50 students had already registered.
What is now called The Carriage House was converted into classrooms and a reference library. Students lived in what is now the mansion, the newspaper wrote. By 1965, registration had soared to 180 students.
“The faculty and students, writes Felt executive director Beth McEwen, “set about learning the mysteries of nature in a practical way; they harvested the apples from the orchards, filled the fruit storage cellars to be used in the future, and had plenty to sell at the local fruit exchange.
“Then in the spring they collected sap from the maple trees, processed it into syrup and prepared it for market.
“This work on the part of faculty and students was not just a pursuit of knowledge but an economic necessity. Between the apple harvest and spring sap run, they learned to endure the rigors of winter with its abundant snowfall.
“Seminary life revolved around the daily schedule of prayer, school, and work,” McEwen said
Life at the Seminary
“Known for its rigorous academics, the St. Augustine Seminary had a waiting list of over 400 students,” says a timeline inside the mansion. “Eventually, they built a huge high school on the ridge west of the mansion where today is a disc golf course.”
As the Vietnam War ended in the mid-1970s, enrollment had dropped to fewer than 70 students.
The school closed in 1977, and the state bought the land. The Saugatuck Dunes Correctional Facility opened in 1978 along with Saugatuck Dunes State Park, 1,000 acres with 2.5 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline.
The prison closed in 1991.
In 1996, the state sold the property to Laketown Township for $1.
In 2001 Patty Meyer discovered the boarded-up mansion and started working to restore the 12,000-square-foot building to its former glory. Meyer retired as estate director in 2023.
“The Felt Estate,” said Laketown supervisor and interim manager Steven Rinbelberg, “already had a rich and interesting history, and as we continue to learn more about Pope Leo XIV, his story adds even more to the legacy.”
