St. Joseph's Catholic Church (Bauer, Iowa) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church and Cemetery Historic District
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 Location in Iowa
Location in the United States
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| Location | 1 mile east of the junction of County Road G76 and SE 97th Street, Lacona, Iowa |
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| Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| Built | 1876 |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival Late Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 94001580 |
| Added to NRHP | January 24, 1995 |
St. Joseph's Catholic Church was once a church in the Diocese of Davenport. It is located in a countryside area called Dallas township in Marion County, Iowa, United States. The church was part of a small village named Bauer, which no longer exists. The towns closest to it are Melcher-Dallas and Lacona. The church building is still standing today. It is part of a special historic district with its nearby cemetery. This district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Contents
History of St. Joseph's Church
St. Joseph's Church was started in 1853. It was built for German immigrants who lived in a place called Newbern in western Marion County. The small village that grew around the church was later named Bauer. This name came from the Bauer family, who were some of the first German settlers there. The church began in the Diocese of Dubuque when Bishop Mathias Loras was in charge. The current church building was constructed in 1876. This happened under the leadership of Bishop John Hennessy.
Early Days and Building the Church
At first, St. Joseph's did not have its own priest living there. Priests from St. Patrick’s in Georgetown would come to lead services. The first two church buildings were made of logs. They were built on the same land where the current church stands. The first priest who lived at St. Joseph's was Reverend John Baumann. The house for the priest, called a rectory, was built in 1873.
Reverend Baumann blessed the first stone for the current church on October 3, 1875. A speaker named Reverend S. Cann gave a sermon that day. The church's foundation was made from limestone, which was found nearby in a quarry. The clay for the bricks was dug up right from the church property. Parish members then made and baked the bricks on site. The finished church building was dedicated in 1876. Soon after, Father Wieland became the new pastor.
Church Features and Changes
The main altar and the altar for the Blessed Virgin Mary were put in place in 1880. The altar for Saint Joseph was added later. The church seats, called pews, were installed the next year. The bells in the church tower were also added in 1881. These bells were made in St. Louis, Missouri. One bell honors all saints, and the other honors St. Joseph. In 1881, St. Joseph's parish became part of the new Davenport Diocese.
Around 1900, a special musical instrument called a reed organ was installed. It was made by the Estey Organ Company in Vermont. Pictures showing the Stations of the Cross were added in 1916. Over time, other churches were started from St. Joseph's in towns like Melcher, Knoxville, Rose Mount, and Lacona.
Language and Parish Life
For many years, German was used for sermons and church services, unless Latin was required. This continued until March 1913. By then, younger church members wanted some sermons to be in English. In the same year, a new rectory was built across the road from the church. It was a large, two-and-a-half-story house.
As the 20th century went on, the German people at Bauer became more like other Americans. Their old traditions became less important. Because there were fewer priests, St. Joseph's lost its own resident priest in 1969. It then shared priests with other churches. The rectory was sold in 1972 and is now a private home. The number of people attending the church also went down. The church parish eventually closed in the 1990s.
Learning at St. Joseph's: The School
The church also had a school, which started around 1877 with a regular teacher. Later, nuns from the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee taught at the school. A two-and-a-half-story school building and a home for the nuns, called a convent, were built in 1904. These buildings are no longer there.
St. Joseph's school was one of seven church schools in the Davenport Diocese that also worked like public schools. These areas were mostly Catholic. In the early 1900s, the state of Iowa required all areas to have a school. These church schools helped meet that rule. State money was used to pay some of the nuns' salaries, buy books (except for religion books), and get equipment.
In 1937, some people started lawsuits against these school districts. They questioned if it was legal to hire the nuns. A local court said it was okay, but the state Supreme Court disagreed. The case was later dropped. The state could not stop teachers from being hired because of their religious beliefs. However, they could limit what the teachers wore. The nuns continued to wear their religious clothes, but they removed their rosaries and reliquaries. In 1953, a state law was passed that stopped state money from going to these church-based schools. St. Joseph's school then became a regular church school and stayed open until 1964. After the school closed, the building was used as a church hall and community center until the 1990s.
What the Church Looks Like
St. Joseph's Church is a brick building that is about 60 feet long and 41 feet wide. It sits on a limestone foundation. The church is shaped like a rectangle. The front of the church has a tall, square tower that sticks out. The tower has two parts, separated by a stone line. A large stone cross sits on top of this line. The tower has a hip roof with another cross on top.
Brick designs are found under the roof edges on the west, north, and south sides of the building. They are also around the top of the bell area. On the front of the church, the brick design is angled, following the slope of the gabled roof. The back of the church does not have this brick design. Instead, it has two round windows, with the bottom one being larger. The sides of the church have four tall, narrow windows that are spaced evenly. Metal shingles cover the roof of the main part of the church. A small, one-story room called a sacristy sticks out from the back wall. This room was added later.
Inside the church, the altar area is at the east end. The main altar is no longer there, but the side altars are still in place. The pews are arranged in four sections with three walkways between them. Some of the original pews are in the balcony. The pews on the main floor were added later. The stained glass windows show pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint Boniface (who helped Germans become Christian), Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Barbara, and Saint Catherine of Siena.
Exploring St. Joseph's Cemetery
St. Joseph's Cemetery is about 183 feet by 258 feet. The burial plots are arranged in a grid pattern. It is located right behind the church. An iron archway with the words "St. Joseph's Cemetery" marks the entrance. A path goes down the middle of the cemetery. It leads to an altar in the center and divides the cemetery into three parts.
The altar is made of flat stones on two concrete steps. It has a sculpture of the Crucifixion that is about 10 feet tall, with a wooden cross. On either side of the altar are life-size statues of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist. These statues are made of painted metal. People believe they were put there before World War I.
The first five rows in the north part of the cemetery are only for burying children. There are no such rules for the rest of the cemetery. The oldest grave markers are from 1851, which was two years before the church parish started. The markers are made from different kinds of stone, like limestone and granite. They come in many styles.
One common style is the "cross-on-stone" marker. There are 40 of these, in three main types. The oldest type is a small, tablet-like marker with a stone cross on top. These are usually about 2.5 feet tall. The most popular type is the "cross-on-shaft" marker, with 21 examples. These were made in the late 1800s. They have a stepped base, a narrow column, and a carved stone cross on top. Many of these are about 5 feet tall.
The third type is the largest, called a "cross-on-block." It has a large, rectangular block with a cross on top. These are often about 6 feet tall. There are 12 examples of this style, from the early 1900s. Sometimes, the cross is carved right into the block. A heart is another common symbol on grave markers, especially in the children's section. It is also on the marker for Sister Columba, the only nun buried there. There are only a few markers with urns, which were popular in other Iowa cemeteries. Interestingly, there are no iron cross grave markers, which are found in other German settlements in Iowa.
