Browse Items (254 total)

"In 1892 Bishop John Hennessy appointed Father Peter D. O’Malley to form a parish at LaMotte, about four miles from his country parish at Saint Theresa’s. Many area Catholics had poor roads and long distances for attending Bellevue, Otter Creek,…

"In the southwest corner of Jackson County, between Maquoketa and Wyoming, the town of Fremont was platted in the center of Monmouth Township in 1859. Five years later, on May 5, 1864, Joseph J. Kopsa called a meeting of the area Catholics. He gave…

"The German families in Dubuque asked Bishop Loras for permission to form a parish and built a small stone church at 8th and White Streets in 1851. Although named Holy Trinity, it was replaced in 1867 by the present Saint Mary Church at 15th and…

“When John Plettchette died in 1859, he left six acres on condition that a church be built within two years. When Bishop Clement Smyth did not send a priest on the grounds that there was no church, John Heles and Joseph Friedman assumed leadership…

"Father John Zlebcik formed the Catholics of the Walford area into Holy Trinity Parish and directed them in building their first church. Hand hewn oak beams supported the floor, and the pews were homemade. The church bell was donated by Francis and…

"Father Bernard W. Coyle of Waverly is reputed to have celebrated the first Mass in the Allison community in the 1880s. He continued to care for the Catholics there on his many journeys. The further accounts of the parish’s beginning are confusing.…

"Father Scallan directed the building of a church, probably in 1880. Patrick and Bridget Farrell deeded four acres of their farm to the Diocese of Dubuque on May 25, 1880, a year after they had purchased it. The Centennial History of the Archdiocese…

"The first European settlers in the Castle Grove area of Jones County were of Irish origin, arriving about 1846. They were visited regularly by Father Jeremiah Trecy from Garryowen on his missionary circuit. Then they were visited by Father Patrick…

““In 1853-54 I offered Mass in Cedar Rapids,” wrote Father Mathias Hannon of Iowa City. “I was the first priest to say Mass there.” The Mass Father Hannon celebrated in the Dubuque House, a small hotel, was the beginning of Immaculate Conception…

"A basement for the future church was completed in 1870 and was used for Mass and other services until 1885, when the Gothic style brick church was completed on that early foundation. This building was damaged twice by fires. In 1968 a tornado almost…