History of Immaculate Conception

Our parish history says 1868 was actually when our parish began, because that was the date of our first assigned parish priest.  But actually the Catholics in this spot in the wilderness had built a log church in 1863 on the land where the cemetery is now. 

The people were discussing building a house of worship, because once in a while a priest would come through and tend their needs as a Catholic community in their homes.  They would take the priest to other people in the area, as a matter of fact, as far away as Stacyville by horse and buggy. 

The number of settlers kept increasing, and one of the pioneers lost a baby, Thomas Zeien, who is the first buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery.  The land was donated by Paul Roethler. Most of the names mentioned in the beginning are still common names in the community.  

Our parish was called St. Mary in those days. Construction for a larger church in North Washington,  the trade center of the area,  began in 1870 because the congregation was out-growing the small log church. The limestone was hauled from Basset by the parishioners.  After the new church was built, they tore the old log church down and used the logs to build a school nearby.  The congregation kept growing.  This school was the first Catholic School in Chickasaw County. 

In the year 1881, a new school was built with frame construction.  The next ye,ar 1882, Franciscan Sisters came.  In 1908, our brick school building was built because of the growing number of children. This was to be the last building to be erected during the pastorate of  Fr. Probsts.

Fr. Probsts came to North Washington seven days after his ordination and served his entire priestly life there, until his death in 1913. He is buried near the Risen Lord statue in our cemetery.  He served our parish for 44 years.  He was followed by Fr. Puetz who served 27 years.  

In 1922, plans to build an even larger church to hold the ever-growing congregation were put on hold when a fire destroyed the parish house on the night the vote was taken.  In January 1923, it was decided to build our present brick church and rectory. 

The limestone church was torn down, and the stone was ground up to be used in the cement for the new church.  There were 350 cubic yards of crushed limestone.  The other building materials were hauled from Devon, a distance of three miles.  The construction project required 65 railroad cars of material.  In addition, 1700 loads of sand and gravel were hauled by parishioners with horses-drawn wagons.  It was, and still is the largest church in Chickasaw county, built to seat 600 people. The parish still owns 11. 4 acres of land – plenty of room for parking.   There was room for a school, convent, and  play ground. 

For many years, our parish was proud of our Corpus Christi processions. Each year, on the feast of Corpus Christi, the community would gather for a procession.  There were two chapels at which the procession would stop for a Benediction ceremony.   This tradition continued until the 1960’s.  

The men’s choir sang at the dedication mass in 1924.  When we had a school, there was always a choir of students.  After the school closed in 1968, the men’s choir re-organized and continues to sing at all our masses. 

Our parish has a very active Rosary Society with bi-monthly meetings.  Many husbands attend with their wives.  A lunch is served after the business meeting – often followed by a game of euchre.  The Rosary Society hosts the annual Swiss Steak Dinner, but the whole parish is involved.  

Four native sons from our parish were ordained as priests: 
 

• Rev. Msgr. Joseph Linkenmeyer, ordained  1912
• Rev. M. M. Ries, C.M, ordained  1916
• Rev. Henry Nosvisch, ordained  1924
• Rev. Ken Glaser, ordained 2000

Other religious vocations include: Br. Andre Hotchkiess, S.V.D. , a missionary, and 20 women who became sisters.  The inside of our church had unpainted cement walls until 1948. 

Our statues include:  St. Cecilia, patroness of music; the Sacred Heart; St. Michael the archangel; the Pieta or sorrowful mother holding her crucified son; St. Margaret of Antioch; the Blessed Mother; St. Elizabeth;  St. Ann with her child Mary; St. Anthony; St. Joseph with the child Jesus; St. Aloysius; and St. Theresa, the little flower. 

The paintings include the wedding of Mary and Joseph, and the Blessed Mother appearing to St. Dominic when she asked the people to pray the rosary for a better world. 

The Stations of the Cross were brought from the old church and are oil painted on canvas.

The organ, purchased in 1893, was built in Germany.   The names of the stops are printed in German.   The organ was originally pumped by hand.   There are those who still remember “Sister” play away at the organ.  Then, it would start running out of air.  “Sister” would look  around the corner of the organ where Orville Brown was resting.  He would get a big grin, then start pumping away. 

A few years ago, the leathers were replaced by Cletus Ries and Tom MacIntire.  The old leathers were made into a rosary which is still in the possession of one of our parishioners. 

The bells were removed from the tower and placed in front of the church due to structural problems.  During the parish centennial in 1968, a large statue of the Sacred Heart was placed between the church and the rectory.