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"Our Lady of Seven Dolors Parish at Festina began as an Indian mission. In 1840 the federal government built Fort Atkinson and moved the Winnebagoes there from the Yellow River area north of McGregor for the Indians’ protection. When Bishop Loras…

"The history of the Forest City and Lake Mills parishes is intertwined and involves the Bristol parish, which never had a church of its own. From about the year 1870 Catholic settlements developed at Bristol, Forest City, and Lake Mills. According to…

"The parish of Saint John Nepomucene in Fort Atkinson, Winneshiek County, began in 1873 with plans for a church and their execution in 1874. But the parish stems from the “Old Indian Mission” among the Winnebago Indians living on the extensive…

"Saint Joseph Parish in Garnavillo began early in the history of the archdiocese. According to tradition, Father Joseph Cretin, who later became the first bishop of Saint Paul, came from Dubuque and celebrated Mass in the homes of John Barrett and…

"Most parishes have only one patron saint, but the Garner parish has four. Late in the last century Father John McMahon procured a church hall and succeeded in uniting the various nationalities by dedicating the building to Saints Boniface, Rose,…

"St. Patrick’s at Garryowen began with the coming of Irish immigrants a few years after the conclusion of the Blackhawk War and the opening of the Iowa Territory to settlement. Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, the Italian Dominican missionary, tells the…

"The Church of Saints Peter & Paul in Story County, north of Ames and a few miles west of Gilbert, is on the Story County side of the county line. About half the parish lies across the county line in the Diocese of Sioux City and Boone County.…

"Immaculate Conception Parish began with the town of Gilbertville, which was then called Knox. Several young men, pleased with the banks of the Red Cedar River in Black Hawk County south of Waterloo, laid out the town site in 1854. The Catholic…

"When Greene began to thrive in the 1870s because of the railroads, the Catholic settlers were no longer satisfied with Mass in homes or halls and traveling four miles to Saint Mary’s in Coldwater. They were eager for a church of their own. In 1878 a…

"Saint Mary Parish began with the French Catholics who settled in Clayton County as early as 1833, and missionary priests celebrated Mass and the sacraments whenever they came to the village. The first German families arrived in 1845. Guttenberg…