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"In the early 1880s Father Patrick H. Ryan lived in the Tom Magirl home while forming a parish and building a church. The church foundations are still visible in Calvary Cemetery on highway 13, about two miles south of Ryan. Completed about 1882, the…

“Parishioners of Mason City’s second Catholic parish gathered with their founding pastor, Father Edward J. Dougherty, in the public library for their first Mass on an October Sunday in 1908. Construction of the church began the following spring and…

Historical documents pertaining to the history of Holy Family parish in New Hampton, Iowa.

“Holy Family Parish owes its beginning and many years of its existence to its close neighbors, the monks of New Melleray Abbey. Because the people had little funds and the monastery wished to help them have their own church, one of the monks appealed…

“The early Irish settlers […] were cared for by Father John Gosker of Independence, fifteen miles to the west. Mass in home or school continued until they built a church holding eight pews. Two ladies of the parish deserve the credit for getting the…

“North Buena Vista clings to the hillsides of the great river, which often offered better transportation than the twisting valley roads. While Father Garrett T. Nagle was pastor of Holy Cross, 24 families pledged support for a small frame church,…

Historical documents pertaining to the history of the Epiphany Parish Merger in Mason City, Iowa.

“North Washington in Chickasaw County was established as a trading center in the early 1850s. As the number of settlers increased, they saw a need for a church. Then the death of a child was the occasion for Paul Roethler to donate a portion of land…

“In 1868 Bishop John Hennessy sent Father Daniel Cogan to be pastor of Castle Grove and to build a church in Monticello. He conducted open air forums in Monticello and surrounding communities and later moved to Monticello. The parish built a large…

“Saint Boniface Parish traces its beginning to the first Mass offered in the village of New Vienna by Bishop Mathias Loras on Jan. 6, 1846. They were a community of 17 German families who had settled along the North Fork of the Maquoketa River about…