“While resident pastor of Ackley from 1870 to 1881, Father Peter O’Dowd covered at least five counties in his missionary work among the scattered Catholic settlers. After visiting the Williams area in Hamilton County to celebrate Mass in their homes for a few years, Father O’Dowd proposed building a church. He found a score of families in 1875 willing to build a small frame church on an acre of land given by Lawrence McCue. It was named Saint Mary Church.” - Rev. Msgr. Edgar Kurt, “Parish Profile #159, Saint Mary Parish, Williams.” Dubuque: The Witness, 28 January 1990.
The Archdiocese of Dubuque. The Center for Dubuque History at Loras College.
Loras College Kucera Center for Catholic Thought Frank and Ida Goedken Series: "Spiritual Life in the Upper Mississippi River Valley"
Burback, Emily. Burns, Daniel. Gibson, Michael. Oberfoell, Carol. Waldmeir, Helen. Waldmeir, John.
1875- History of the parish over the span of 144 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
Historical documents pertaining to the history of Saint Mary parish in Eladora, Iowa.
ca. 1860- History of the parish over the span of 159 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
St. Mary Mt. Carmel (Eagle Center, Iowa)
“Eight men organized Eagle Township in Black Hawk County in 1858. At least three of them are buried in the Eagle Center parish cemetery. A majority of the first settlers were Catholic. The first church was built on five acres of high ground, but never fully completed because of the economy. Train prices were depressed. After destruction in a windstorm in 1874, the church was replaced by a frame building that served the parish for over a century. The present church was completed in 1976, the property is a total of ten acres.” Rev. Msgr. Edgar Kurt, “Parish Profile #143: Saint Mary of Mount Carmel, Eagle Center.” Dubuque: The Witness, 1 October 1989.
1859- History of the parish over the span of 159 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
"Saint Matthew Parish began in August 1922 when Archbishop James J. Keane sent Father Daniel P. Mulcahy from Vinton to Cedar Rapids. He had no church and only a few parishioners. In 1926 a combination brick church-school-rectory was completed and dedicated. The Sisters of Mercy staffed the school from the beginning and continue to be a part of the faculty to this day. During the ten years Father Behan was pastor the parish grew from a dozen families to 240. The school grew from 40 students in 1926 to 200 in 1939." -Kurt, Rev. Msgr. Edgar, “Parish Profile #207,” The Witness, January 13, 1991.
Various primary and secondary documents.
1922- History of the parish over the span of 96 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
Historical documents pertaining to the history of Saint Matthias parish in Cascade, Iowa.
Merged St. Martin’s and St. Mary’s in Cascade into St. Matthias in 1992- History of the parish over the span of 26 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
"On April 8, 1928, Father Joseph F. Wiehl and three members of his parish in Chester drove through muddy roads to nearby McIntire in the northeast corner of Mitchell County. There he celebrated the Easter Mass with more than one hundred faithful of the area. The few Catholic families living in or near McIntire had purchased the small church from the Congregationalists and named it for Saint Mel, a companion of Saint Patrick. The parish never received a resident pastor." - Rev. Msgr. Edgar Kurt, Parish Profile #176, The Witness, May 27, 1990.
1928- History of the parish over the span of 90 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
"The advent of the Chicago Northwestern Railroad with its shops attracted some to Belle Plaine, and the fertile farm land brought others to the area. As more Catholics arrived, Sunday Mass outgrew private homes and the public school was used until the first church was built in 1885. Father Michael A. Meagher, pastor of Tama, directed the building of a frame, Gothic style church at the corner of 6th Avenue and 7th Street, with Patrick McPhee and Joseph McPherson as contractors. Later the building was moved to 910 8th Avenue and is now used by the Faith Baptist Congregation." - Kurt, Rev. Msgr. Edgar, Parish Profile #169, The Witness, April 8. 1990.
The Archdiocese of Dubuque. The Center Dubuque History at Loras College.
1885- History of the parish over the span of 133 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
“The Catholics of Nashua in Chickasaw County bought property and built a church in 1868. Before that, Mass was celebrated in the homes of the O’Donnells and the Doughertys. After forty years as a mission, the parish received its first resident pastor when Father William A. Kunkel was appointed in August 1903. He began the sacramental records. He at once set about having the church repaired and enlarged. In the summer of 1904 a rectory was built, and one room of the rectory was furnished as a school. For two years a lay teacher conducted the parish school, but in 1906 Father Kunkel resigned because of health and the school closed.” Rev. Msgr. Edgar Kurt, “Parish Profile #68: Saint Michael Parish, Nashua.” Dubuque: The Witness, 3 April 1988.
1868- History of the parish over the span of 151 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
“The first Catholics in Norway area were of Czech heritage, and the first priests came to minister to them in their own language. Father Anthony D. Urban visited them while pastor of Spillville and celebrated the first Mass in the area in 1865 in the Matthew Kuenn home. Several times in 1865 Father William Emonds came from Iowa City to celebrate Mass in the public school. While he was pastor of Vinton in 1867, Father Urban directed the building of the first Catholic church in Norway. In 1870 he was appointed the first resident pastor of the parish.” - Rev. Msgr. Edgar Kurt, “Parish Profile #121: Saint Michael Parish, Norway.” Dubuque: The Witness, 23 April 1989.
1867- History of the parish over the span of 150 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.
"For Saint Michael’s first century we rely somewhat on an anonymous history brought up to date in 1987, but probably begun many years earlier. That history states that two Czechs, Albert Cobeen and Frank Yarick started to build a church. Lacking sufficient funds, they were helped by the Irish Catholics to finish the church in 1872. Father Sulac, a Jesuit missionary, visited the church twice a year, but the years are not given. Historians are searching old Catholic directories and Jesuit archives for his full name and the specific years he worked in the Iowa missions." -Rev. Msgr. Edgar Kurt, Parish Profile #219, The Witness, April 7, 1991
1872-2004 The history of the parish over the span of 132 years, including information about its priests and parishioners.