Browse Items (5749 total)

'“As the Czech population of Cedar Rapids grew early in this century, many had to find homes farther from Saint Wenceslaus Church. It was the only Czech-speaking Catholic church in the city and it was on the east side of the Cedar River. Some of the…

“At the first parish meeting in January 1923 a building committee was formed. Bids for a church building were opened at the next meeting on May 25, and ground was broken on May 28. The cornerstone was laid on July 8, and Archbishop Keane preached for…

"A Catholic church of their own was only a dream for the Edgewood Catholics until 1916. Some were members of the Greeley parish to the south; others were members of the Littleport parish to the northeast. But all attended Mass in Cox Creek, Garber,…

“A little church was built on the st side of the Iowa river in 1885 and dedicated to Saint Ambrose. By 1902 the parish had grown to […] families, and Confirmation was first administered in Iowa Falls in 1903. In 1905 Father Convery directed the…

"Saint Martin Parish and Saint Mary Parish sprang from one parish named Saint Mathias to provide for the language difference of the early settlers of this Dubuque County area. For a long time Saint Martin's was the Irish parish and Saint Mary's the…

"The early Catholic settlers had been served by missionary priests, among them Father Joseph Butler, who wrote and signed the earliest parish record. He recorded a marriage and nine baptisms on Sept. 23, 1866. Father Peter O’Dowd arrived as resident…

"Saint Mary Parish was established in 1857 with the appointment of Father John Baumgartner to care for the German speaking Catholics who had been members of Saint Martin Parish in Cascade along with their Irish neighbors. They began the construction…

“The first Catholics of the area came in the 1850s. From the family names we know they are mostly Irish. Although a church was built in Nevada in 1870, it was 1881 when the church was built in Colo. They were under Father Patrick Smith’s direction at…

"On January 15, 1902, the Diocese of Sioux City was formed from the western half of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, following county lines. The Catholic church in Corwith found itself less than a mile east of the diocesan line. In both directions,…

"In the 1860s Irish immigrants came to Grundy County to settle fertile Grant Township several miles south of Dike. The first settler was John B. Murphy in 1866. Having first farmed in Michigan, he was attracted to the Iowa farmland. He was soon…