St. Michael Parish, Palmer, Alaska was founded in May 1935 to serve the colonists moving to Alaska as part of the Matanuska Colony Project, a United States Government New Deal Project in which families from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan settled into the Matanuska Valley and Palmer to farm the land. Father Francis Sulzman, who first served in Skagway and Seward, was transferred, at his own request, to Palmer as St. Michael’s founding pastor and said the first Mass in a tent on Sunday, May 26, 1935.  He began building a log church in Palmer in 1936, which was dedicated at the 11:00 am Mass on Sunday, July 24, 1937.  In 1966, under the newly established Archdiocese of Anchorage, a new St. Michael’s church building (known as Sulzman Hall) and rectory were built.  Father John Lunney, who had previously served in Cordova and Valdez, was pastor.  The current church building has been remodeled several times over the last 55 years, the most recent being the new worship space and kitchen in 2013.  The crucifix that now hangs in the social hall was originally at the parish in Valdez.  Parishioner Earl Combs, at the request of Father Lunney, went to Valdez, searched the rubble from the 1964 earthquake, found the cross, and brought it back to Palmer. 
Over the years, St. Michael’s has held numerous and well-known fundraisers to help the parish payoff its loans and continue the remodeling and beautification of the church.  These fundraisers included the annual bazaar which began in 1940; a community bingo game which began in January 1975; and Slippery Gulch, an eatery at the annual Alaska State Fair, begun in 1960 by the Wasilla Cemetery Association, turned over to St. Michael’s Parish, and still run every year by a large contingent of parish volunteers.
Today, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Michael Parish is a large parish of over 400 families; descendants from the original families, military families from across the country, and young families who are the future of the parish, a parish that is well known for its welcoming and hospitable atmosphere.  Recently, St. Michael Parish was chosen by the City of Palmer as a Winner for the 2021 Best of Palmer Awards in the category of Places of Worship.