REVEREND MSGR. E. L. McEVOY Pastor: 1951 to 1972 Now Chaplain of the Marion Home
REVEREND MSGR. LOUIS LYNCH Pastor: 1972-1974 Now Chaplain at Trinity Regional Hospital
	REVEREND MSGR. JOHN L. BAUER (Deceased) Pastor: 1974-1978

The beginning of Corpus Christi Parish was the beginning of Catholicism in Northwest Iowa. Corpus Christi was not only the mother Church of the Catholic Faith in Webster county but of this whole Northwest section of Iowa. It was the first parish organized in what is now the Sioux City Diocese, comprising the twenty-four counties of Northwest section of Iowa with an area of 14,519 square miles.

Fort Dodge got an early start, comparatively, because it was selected by the government as a site for a fort. Although the proposed fort was never constructed, soldiers were sent here and settlers then came, preferring, as a matter of safety, to be near the soldiers.

Prior to 1850, this whole Northwest Iowa territory was a prairie wilderness, despite the fact that by the middle of the nineteenth century Iowa already was a state and there was a considerable population along the Mississippi.

As far back as 1673, Father Marquette and Louis Joliet, the first white men to visit this state, had explored the Iowa country along the Mississippi, but it was more than a century and a half later before any white men had pushed into the "Northwest Inland."

According to H. M Pratt's history of Fort Dodge and Webster County, the first white men upon the soil of Webster County, were an exploring party of the First United States Dragoons, who passed through what is now the county in 1835. They camped one night on the North Lizard Creek. Later, one of their party wrote a glowing report of the richness and beauty of the upper Des Moines Co9unty, which account undoubtedly had much to do in turning the attention of the immigrant and settler toward this section.

The first settlers in Webster county came in 1846. It was the first settlement in Northwest Iowa, on the frontier of civilization.

Soldiers were sent here in 1950, the intention bring to establish a fort, first called Fort Clarke and later Fort Dodge. Barracks were constructed to house the soldiers but the fort was never built. The soldiers were moved out of Fort Dodge in 1852 and sent to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. From then on the first settlers had no military protection.

A. C. Dodge

Fort Dodge was named after General Henry and Augustus Caesar Dodge, both U.S. Senators, the father from Wisconsin and the son from Iowa. The latter, A. C. Dodge, became a Catholic before he died. His wife and his children were Catholics. Augustus Caesar Dodge's brother and sister had become Catholic when they were children. Celina Doge, later, Mrs. Truett F. Myers, was the sister; Henry Lafayette Dodge was the brother. The latter was U.S. Indian agent to the Apaches and in 1856 was burned at the stake by them. Fort Dodge, then, was named after a family which was to great extent Catholic.

The Honorable Cyrenus Cole, eminent Iowa historical has written: "No fort and no city in Iowa was every more honorably or more worthily named."

Following the arrival of the first settlers in Webster County in 1846, the growth in the area was slow. The population in the county in 1853 was 150. The election returns for the first election in August of 1853 amounted to sixty-three votes.

The population began to grow in 1853 and by the time of the elections in 1856, 592 votes were cast at the voting booths.

There is no record as to who the first Catholics were in the area. There were a number here in 1855 and possibly a few here before that year. Mainly, the first Catholics were Irish or of Irish descent, although there were a few Germans. For the most part they were young couples, God-fearing, adventuresome, courageous souls, blazing a trail into the new land. A number of them had been born in Ireland and stopped in Illinois before pushing West to "a land of greater promise." Other Catholics were native born Americans coming here from New England.

Father Marsh was 41 years of age when he came to Fort Dodge in 1859. The congregation was small and scattered and the people were poor. Father Marsh moved into the rectory and his board was given to him by John Haire, who lived at the corner of sixth street and First Avenue South. Father Marsh was a timely pastor and under his direction the first school in the diocese for Catholic Education was begun. The building was erected on "Seminary Square." The first school was a two story frame structure with a cupola. "At the start, the upstairs was not finished," says Mrs. Lochray. "There were three rooms downstairs, which were used for the school, the boys and girls being kept separate. The school building was heated with stoves as were all places at that time and wood was the fuel used. It seems to me Father Marsh was everlastingly sawing wood to keep the various buildings supplied."

Rt. Rev. Matthias Loras, D. D. Bishop of Dubuque, 1837-1858 Died Feb. 19, 1858

Bishop Matthias Loras, D.D., Bishop of Dubuque promised a Church for Fort Dodge in the year 1856. That very spring, Father John Vahey was sent to Fort Dodge. Father Vahey's first letter to Bishop Loras after being assigned and arriving at Corpus Christi reads as follows:

"Fort Dodge, April 22nd, 1856

"Rt. Rev. and dear Bishop,

"After a laborious journey of two weeks, I reached my future field of labour. And never in all my life have I undergone such fatigue, owing principally to the badness of the roads - However, thanks be to God, I met with no accident, Mary protects her own children - The prospects of establishing permanently here, our holy religion, are somewhat gloomy, as the families here are poor with two exceptions, and there incapable of procuring church property which, hereafter, would constitute a firm basis for Catholicity in this town.

"I find upon examination that there are some thirty families in Fort Dodge and the Lizard, that those families will each have to pay $10, in order to secure those three lots for which not one cent yet has been paid - This is about the amount they will be able to pay this year, either towards the erection of a church or the support of a priest; so that if the Diocese would build a small frame and help the poor priest to live this year, our holy religion would certainly prosper here, otherwise I fear a disappointment.

"I will, Rt. Rev. Bishop, give you an outline of how things are here, in order that you may more clearly see my position. Board here is $20 per month, the keeping of a horse is very little less as corn is $1.00 per bush, and can scarcely be had at that price. Flour is $13.00 per bar. Hence the difficulty in living here. There is a continuous influx of immigration, Catholic and Protestant, so much so of the former, that before three years, there will be a large city here with some three or four hundred Catholic families so that Fort Dodge will be the great center of Catholicity in Iowa. The country west of this point is settling up fast with Catholics. So you see, Rt. Rev. Bishop, my position here and that of my poor congregation. But enable us to build a small frame church or schoolhouse upon those lots which will be secured next week, and the priest to get along this year, and Almighty God will do His own work the next.

"There is a beautiful site, for a grave yard or convent, on the verge of the corporation, of 3 A(cres) which can be had for $300, which in five years will be worth $5000. Would that this could be secured - Independence or Cedar Falls I did not attend to; as Rev. Father Slatery visited those points. Those families at Boonesborough I will visit next week and get the deed.

"Excuse, Rt. Rev'd Bishop, the length of this. The next will be shorter and in the interim I recommend myself and my mission to your prayers and remain

"Your most humble and obedient in J.C.
John Vahey."

Boonesborough was the old name for Boone. In 1857 Fathers Philip Laurent and Louis DeCailly (the nephew of Bishop Loras) were sent out on a mission tour of the State. They visited Fort Dodge and the Lizard and administered the sacraments to the early Catholics in the area.

According to the Webster County Court House, the first piece of real estate purchased by Corpus Christi was made up of Lots 1 and 2, in Block 59, in the original Plat of Fort Dodge, which is the tract on which the church and the former rectory now stand. These two lots were conveyed to Bishop Loras by Jesse Williams on January 28, 1857 for the price of $200. Construction of the first Church began in the fall of 1856 prior to the issuance of the original deed.

SEMINARY SQUARE was the piece of property just to the North of the Church and rectory. Records show that in the original plat of the town of Fort Dodge, a reservation of certain land was made to be donated to a religious denomination for school purposes, and that this tract was withheld from sale and sub-division and called Seminary Square. Seminary Square was to be given to the first religious denomination making use of it for a school site. Seminary square became the property of Corpus Christi on April 18, 1962.

Pictured above is the oldest Catholic school in the Diocese of Sioux City, "The Academy" of Corpus Christi Parish, Fort Dodge. After the parish was established in 1856, this school was soon to become a reality under the direction of Rev. John E. Marsh, C.P., who planned and initiated its construction in what was known as Seminary Square, an area just north of the original church structure. Four Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary came to the parish in 1862, to plan the program of instruction for the first student body of the parochial school. "The Academy" flourished and ultimately became the educational center for children of all grade-levels in Corpus Christi Parish. It was the model for future Catholic schools in other parts of the territory, which was to become the Diocese of Sioux City on January 2, 1902, 40 years later.

From these more than century-old beginnings, the diocesan school system includes 39 elementary schools and nine secondary schools serving over 11,000 young people. These institutions, through their dedicated supporters, continue to bring to students the three-fold gift of Catholic education: Message, Community, and Service!

The history of Corpus Christi Parish would not be complete without a record of the sons and daughters that have answered the call of the Master to a vocation to the religious life. The records show that thirty-five young women have become sisters, four young men have become brothers and twenty-one have answered the call to priesthood.

FIRST PRIEST: Father John A. O'Reilly was the first boy from Webster County and Corpus Christi Parish to be ordained a priest. He was the son of Patrick and Anne O'Reilly, early settlers who emigrated from Illinois. Born at Dixon, Illinois, April 23, 1855, John O'Reilly came to Webster County with his parents. He left the community to begin his clerical studies at St. John's College in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. After completing his seminary work in Niagara Falls, N.Y., he was ordained there by Archbishop Ryan on the fifth of June, 1879, Father O'Reilly said his first Mass in the old Corpus Christi Church during the pastorate of Father T. M. Lenihan. After more than fifty years in the priesthood, Father O'Reilly died in January of 1930.

FIRST SISTER: Miss Elizabeth Noonan was the first girl from Corpus Christi Parish to be professed. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Noonan, and entered the Sister of Charity, BVM at Dubuque in1861 at the age of fourteen years and nine months. She taught music, and was stationed for a time at Council Bluffs. She died in 1874. Her name in religion was Sister Mary Philomena.

BROTHER ROBERT JOYCE - Passionist Order . . . son of Mr. and Robert Joyce

BROTHER ROBERT CARBERRY - Holy Cross from Notre Dame . . . son of Pauline Carberry and the Late Emmet Carberry

BROTHER RONADL EHRHARDT, C.S.C. . . . son of Mr. and Mrs. Leo Ehrhardt

BROTHER JOHN KELLY - Benedictine . . . son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Kelly

Mrs. W. L. (Josephine) Gormally

Josephine is the daughter of John and Ellen Kelly and was born on a farm one mile West of Duncombe on May 28, 1880.

She was baptized on July 18, 1880 at Corpus Christi Church by Father T. M. Lenihan

Josephine attended school in the Duncombe area, went to College in Bloomington, Indiana and later taught school in the Fort Dodge vicinity.

Josephine married W. L. Gormally and they had four children, 17 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The graduating class of Corpus Christi Academy in 1910. Can you name them. Front row: Ruth Rugg, Evelyn Anderson Kearns, Gracy Nash. Back row: Eva Koll Bailey, Grace Fields. Nuns unknown.

The new Corpus Christi Church (1881) was a masterpiece in the world of liturgical architecture and construction. The quarrying of stone was started in 1879 and construction was started in 1880. The architect for the project was Fred Heer from Dubuque. Mr. Heer stayed with Conrad Laufersweiler on his trips to Fort Dodge to inspect the construction. The width of the Church is 58', it is 128' long, and has a tower of 175 feet.

Construction took place under the pastorate of Father Thomas M. Lenihan and the total cost was $37,892.59. One hundred years later it still stands as a thing of beauty and is admired by countless thousands of souls every year.

The population of Fort Dodge at the time of construction was in excess of 2,500 people.

Father Thomas M. Lenihan was pastor of Corpus Christi from 1870 to 1897 at which time he was made Bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming. He died on Dec. 15, 1901 and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery near Dubuque, Iowa. Archbishop John J. Keane preached the eulogy at his funeral.

	Father Ronald Naser. Native son of Corpus Christi Parish. Born: April 5, 1935. Ordained: May 27, 1961. Died: July 7, 1977. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Naser
	Bishop Thomas M. Lenihan, D.D. Pastor of Corpus Christi 1870-1897

Joseph Fuchs

Stephanie Renier

The above pictured couple was married in Corpus Christi Church in the year 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Fuchs are the grandparents of Mrs. Robert Shaw of this parish. They are also the grandparents of Msgr. Joseph E. Tolan, the pastor of St. Joseph's Parish in Wall Lake, Iowa.

FIRST BAPTISM: The first child baptized in this Church was Agnes Welch on April 20, 1856. Agnes was the daughter of William Welch and Catherine Graly. The sponsors were William Quinn and Bridget Murphy.

FIRST MARRIAGE: The first marriage in this parish, at which Father Vahey also officiated, was on June 18, 1856, and united Richard Kelly and Catherine Knox in holy wedlock.

FIRST BURIAL: The first burial took place on December 29, 1859. On this date Father Marsh buried John Thomas Furlong, the infant son of Richard and Anastasis Furlong.

The sacrament of Holy Matrimony has been administered 3,399 times in Corpus Christi Parish. A new home, a new covenant, a new beginning, starts with the sanction of God Himself. "THOU SHALT LEAVE THY FATHER AND MOTHER . . . AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE." Don't walk in front of me I may not follow Don't walk behind me I may not lead Just walk beside me And be my spouse forever.

CORPUS CHRISTI CEMETERY Purchase of the cemetery property was made in 1871 by Father T. M. Lenihan. It is a beautiful piece of property comprising 40 acres of land on the top of a hill rising from the valley of Soldier Creek. Bodies previously buried on the land North of the Church were exhumed and interred in the new cemetery. The Memorial pictured as the right was dedicated in memory of Patrick and Mary Welch on May 26, 1980 in honor of the deceased.

Corpus Christi Academy was built in Seminary Square during 1901 and 1902 and opened for classes in September 1902. The first class of five students graduated from the new academy in 1907. All classes of grade and high school were held in this building to prior to construction of the parish center in 1949. The red brick academy building was condemned by the fire department and torn down in 1973.                               Maxine Peet.

The first sisters, four of them, Sisters of Charity, B.V.M., came to Fort Dodge from their Mother House in Dubuque in July of 1862. Father Marsh went to Dubuque for them. The railroad extended at that time only as far as Cedar Falls, so the journey from Cedar Falls to Fort Dodge was made by stage coach. In a letter to the Sister Superior in Dubuque written on July 11, 1862, telling of the safe arrival of the sisters in Fort Dodge, Father Marsh said, "the school is progressing as fast as men, horses and oxen can carry it along."

The school was not ready for use by September, so classes were temporarily held in the Church. Mrs. Kelley recalls that the names of the first four sisters were: Sister M. Michael, superior; Sister M. Regina, music; Sister M. Hildegard, boys; and Sister M. Cecilia, house sister.

CORPUS CHRISTI K-6

SACRED HEART 7-8

ST. EDMOND 9-12

	CORPUS CHRISTI STEEPLE: The highest point in Fort Dodge. Looms 175 feet in the air as a beckoning voice to the faithful. The renovation took place in 1975. Corpus Christi Convent becomes the rectory in 1977.
	Corpus Christi Rectory built in 1927 during the pastorate of Msgr. Griffin becomes the Convention 1977.

James Tooley

Nora Tooley

Following the words of the Lord, Mr. and Mrs. James Toohey spent many years of their life preparing the Church for their fellow parishioners. James opened the Church each morning for many years for the 6:00 a.m. Mass. He and his wife were daily attendants at Holy Mass. Nora took care of the altar linens, candles and worked in the sanctuary for decades. James died in 1944 and Nora in 1968. Five of their children graduated from Corpus Christi Academy.

Corpus Christi Parish suffered a great loss in the death of Miss Ursula Ryan in 1949. Ursula had been the organist and singer for weddings and funerals for more than 40 years. She was a dedicated soul and lives on in the minds and hearts of many beloved friends. She attended Mass daily and was an important person in the life of our parish for more than two generations. She held a Masters Degree in Music from Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago. When her sister died in 1905, leaving four children, she brought them to Fort Dodge and raised them in her home. They are: Frank Burns of Fort Dodge, the late James Burns of Sioux City, Jan Burns of Chicago and John Burns. This kindness and charity characterized her whole life. God Bless her and may we have many more like her.

STATE HISTORICAL DEPARTMENT OF IOWA
DIVISION OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION

ADRIAN D. ANDERSON, DIRECTOR
HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER

Re: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Corpus Christi Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa, was placed in the National Register of Historic Places it was announced by Adrian D. Anderson, Director of Historic Preservation in Iowa City, today. It was nominated to the National Register by John H. Mitchell, Parish Director, and the owner is the Corpus Christi Parish Center.

The National Register is designed to bring to the attention of the public those structures that are worth preserving either for their architectural or historical importance. In addition, National Register sites are eligible for federal matching acquisition or restoration funds, and they are protected to some degree from any federally assisted or licenses projects that might adversely affect them.

Date or dates of significance: built 1881

Architectural Style: vernacular Romanesque/Gothic, designed by Dubuque architect Fred Herr.

Person of event associated with property: Corpus Christi parish was the first established in the Sioux City diocese. From the mid 1850's to late 1860's priests from here served the vast area north from Fort Dodge to Emmetsburg and west to Sioux City.

The church was constructed under Father Lenihan, who spent 27 years (1870-97) in Corpus Christi parish.

Current or proposed use:

B. 13 Mac Lean Hall - Iowa City, Iowa 52242       Telephone 319-353-6949/319-353-4186

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