"Irish settlers in the eastern part of Chickasaw County gathered for Mass in homes until the small community was able to organize a parish in 1856 and build the first church in the county in 1857. Although the church was named for Saint Ignatius, it…
"The first Catholics bought a stone church built by the Sand Springs Baptists at the beginning of Civil War and closed for ten or more years. The church was dedicated to the Mother of God under her title of the Immaculate Conception. The first…
"Archbishop Leo Binz established Queen of Heaven Parish in Reinbeck on July 19, 1955. Father John E. Graham, pastor of Immaculate Conception at Blessing, had conducted a survey of the area Catholics to determine their interest in forming a parish.…
"Saint Theresa Parish began with the acquisition of forty acres of land, as did so many of the rural parishes of the 1850s. This transaction in 1853 makes it the 14th parish in the history of the present territory of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The…
"The first church in western Howard County was Saint Patrick Church at Cecelia built in 1860 on a plot given by James Roche. Made of logs, it measured 16 by 21 feet and stood in the present cemetery. For some years before, Mass had been celebrated in…
"When there were enough Catholics settled in and around the town of St. Anthony, they built a church in the town in 1893 and named it for the Sacred Heart. Father John McMahon became the first resident pastor of St. Anthony and celebrated the first…
"Two years after Father Thomas J. Conroy returned from his World War II role as military chaplain he was appointed pastor of Sacred Heart Parish at Osage. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated on the morning of September 8, 1951. The…
"All Saint Parish, Rowley, was established by Father William Leen after he became a pastor of Walker in 1894. After the Rowley Catholics built the church in 1896 at his direction, Father Leen continued to care for the Walker parish and three…