By the end of 1897, over 250 Ukrainian families, including over 100 Bukovinian families, primarily from the village of Onut, had settled in the Gardenton area of south eastern Manitoba.

On St. Michael's Day, November, 1897, the first Orthodox priest, a Russian Orthodox missionary from Minneapolis, visited the settlers and performed a number of marriages. Shortly afterwards, an Orthodox church committee was formed and during the winter of 1897-98, logs were hauled to a site on the south side of the Rousseau River. Under the supervision of Wasyl Kekot, a skilled Bukovinian carpenter, forty-three volunteers constructed a church of logs, clay and grass. The church was built in the traditional Bukovinian tripartite style with a sanctuary at the far, eastern end (not visible in the photo), a large nave in the centre, and a narthex at the front; it had a low-pitched, thatched roof. St. Michael's Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church, known as the `Onutska' church in the early days, was completed in May 1899.

Reverend Constantin Popoff of the Russian Orthodox church in Minneapolis was the first Orthodox priest to make regular visits and on his first visit in October, 1899, the church was consecrated. Reverend Sichinsky of Winnipeg followed and later Reverend Soliansky who lived in Gardenton from 1906 to 1910.

A couple of years after the church was completed, in 1901, wooden siding was added to the walls and shingles to the roof. In 1906, a two story bell tower was built nearby. By 1915, the roof was leaking so a local farmer, Menholy Chalaturnyk, and his assistant, George Tostavaruk, were hired to make repairs and improvements. They remodelled the roof, added a main dome, built two smaller domes over the sanctuary and narthex, and changed the entrance from a single door at the south-west side of the church to a double door at the front. The entrance was then enclosed for protection during the cold Canadian winter.

Inside the church, the walls were painted brown up to waist height and dark blue above. The iconastas, designed by Wasyl Chornopysky, had the three traditional openings and was decorated with framed icons from the old country. Golden stars were scattered across the dark blue undersurface of the dome and a chandelier hung from the centre. There were no pews only benches on the side for the elderly and heat was provided by a wood-burning stove. Since the congregation was poor, many of the items in it were handcrafted by the pioneers. Wasyl Kekot carved two intricate wooden crosses, one dated 1897, and Wasyl Chornopysky carved the candlelabras, scripture stand, table and a large wooden cross dated 1902.

St. Michael's joined the newly formed Independent Autocephalous Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church sometime after 1918. In 1934, a new church was built in Gardenton and from that time onward, the church was used only part-time. On August 18, 1974, St. Michael's, the oldest Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Canada, was dedicated as a provincial historic site.