St. Joseph's Catholic Church 150 Years

Banner Journal, Black River Falls, (Jackson Co.), WI

October 31, 2007, Page B-1

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church

By Pat McKnight

150 years of keeping the faith

According to the History of Northern Wisconsin, copyrighted in 1896, the Black River Falls Roman Catholic Church was begun sometime in the year 1857 by a Father Kerrigan.

Another priest credited with helping St. Joseph’s Parish get started was a German immigrant from Innsbruck. According to History of the Catholic Church in Wisconsin, F. X. Etschmann founded the parish while serving the mission churches of northern Wisconsin.

Mass and other services were held in private homes whenever a priest could visit the city until 1871, when a church was built.

The building was located on German Hill behind the present county highway shop on Harrison Street. The church was built close to Levis Creek iron mine, near the families of the iron miners. Many of the miners emigrated from the Rhine Valley in Germany.

In 1859, about 30 families made up St. Joseph’s Parish.

The Black River Falls group was a mission parish served from Neillsville and was served for a time by Rev. Joseph F. Volz from Humbird.

The parish members were finally able to build a place to worship on German Hill in 1871 for $1,600. With its steeple rising 80 feet from the ground, it was the tallest building in Black River Falls.

Unfortunately, a bolt of lightning struck the steeple, destroying it and damaging other parts of the church just as the construction of the building was about finished.

The Badger State Banner reported in its April 21, 1877 edition, “About two o’clock last Wednesday morning one of the heaviest thunderstorms ever known in this latitude in the month of April passed over the village. The lightning and thunder came in constant and vivid flashes and peal after peal in rapid succession for a short time, and the rain poured down in torrents for an hour or more. The lightning struck the tall spire of the Catholic Church in this village, shattering the top into atoms and splintering one corner of it down to the foundation. Boards and portions of timber were scattered around in all directions for six to eight rods. The damage was so great that it will require from $150 to $200, to make the necessary repairs on the steeple and church front. The glass in the windows of the base of the steeple was all broken out and one sash made into kindling wood.”

Father P. F. Garrity was the first resident priest to live in Black River Falls for more than a few months. He arrived in 1898 and also served the parishes at St. Columbkille’s in Shamrock, St. Malachy’s at Roaring Creek (also known as Trout Run) and St. Andrew’s in Millston.

Under Garrity’s residency, the parish purchased the Universalist congregation’s church on top of the hill on Main Street. The parish’s old church building was sold to the German Reformed Church.

St. Joseph’s Church on Main Street, Black River Falls, around the beginning of the 20^th century.

The purchase proved to be a good decision because the parish’s first church was damaged in the flood of 1911. Along with the church, the autumn deluge swept away many businesses in downtown Black River Falls.

Services at St. Joseph’s became intermittent again when Father Peter Briody took up residence in Ettrick when he was assigned to the three parishes of Black River Falls, Roaring Creek and Ettrick.

The parish began to think about building a new church under the guidance of father William Braun, who arrived in 1925. It became evident more space was needed, especially during the summer months when vacationers swelled the faithful’ ranks.

A balcony was built in the church to add more seating, but getting donations toward a whole new church was hampered by the poor economic times of the Depression.

In April 1941, an architect was hired on the feast day of St. Joseph to draw up plans for a new church building.

In November of that year, the cornerstone for the third church was laid and dedicated. Unfortunately, the United States officially entered World War II that December. The country’s war effort made building materials and labor difficult to acquire.

The labor to build the new church was donated by J. R. McDonald and his wife Mary. The new church was completed and dedicated in June 1943.

First Communion class of 1943 poses for its photo: Pictured are (l-r) Beverly Savage, Beatrice Hansen, Shirley Radcliffe, Donna Rozmenoski, Berdine Martin, Elisie Montay, Peter Barkely, Fred Bauer, Duane Bowen, Donny McCormick, John Fry and John Quartemont.

This photo shows the interior of the church in 1949, the same year the last installment of the building’s construction debt was paid off. The church was renovated and rededicated in 1982 and is presently being restored.

The next construction project was the building of a parochial school next to the church. In 1950, the former rectory was torn down to make room for the school.

The century-old Moore house that served as the rectory, convent and school in 1950.

In a letter printed in the August 15, 1951, issue of The Banner Journal, Fathers Koopman and Theisen gave the reasons for the parish’s decision to build a school.

In addition to saying the parish wanted to provide more religious experiences to the parish’s youth, they said the influences of the nuns and the integration citizenship with a catholic identity were the benefits of a parochial education.

Another issue the two priests addressed was the lack of religious formation the country’s students received. They cited a story that appeared in The Christian Century relating the results of a survey made by an English literature professor. The professor taught in a secular university but wanted to find out how much his students knew about the Bible.

“To the question, ‘What is a canticle?’ a student answered: ‘A kind of fowl of the mail species.’ To the question, ‘What are the epistles,’ a student wrote in reply: ‘I’m not quite sure, but I think they were the wives of the Apostles’; this from a class of college seniors many of whom were planning to teach in high schools.”

The ground for the parochial school was broken in 1950 and it opened its doors to 87 students in 1952. Students came from Alma Center, Melrose, as well as Black River Falls.

In 1959, a new rectory containing parish offices was built on the corner of Fifth and Main streets, as was a convent on the opposite corner.

The former rectory built in 1959. It has served as a group home since 1978.

Due to declining enrollments, the school was closed at the end of the school year in 1978. The building now serves as the parish center and houses the office of Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers.

The interior of the church is currently being restored.

St. Joseph’s Church as it looks today. The 3,000-pound statue of Christ in the tower of the neo-Romanesque-style edifice was purchased with pennies collected by the children of St. Joseph’s Parish.

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Timeline of St. Joseph’s Parish

1660: Jesuit missionary Fr. Rene Menard explores the Black River Falls area.

1857: The History of Northern Wisconsin credits the formation of the “Catholic society” in Black River Falls to a Rev. Father Kerrigan, while the History of the Catholic Church in Wisconsin credits the founding to a Rev. Father F. X. Etschmann.

1859: The congregation gathers for Mass celebrated by Rev. Joseph F. Volz in the Black River Falls courthouse.

1871: The parish begins work on its first church building.

1877: Lightning severely destroys the church’s steeple.

1898: Fr. Patrick Garrity arrives in Black River Falls to be the first resident priest at St. Joseph’s.

Mar. 1903: St. Joseph’s Parish buys the Universalist church building on top of the hill on Main Street.

Oct. 1911: A flood destroys the first church of St. Joseph’s Parish, which had been sold to the German Reformed Church in 1903.

Fall 1935: A basement is constructed under the church.

Nov. 1941: The cornerstone is dedicated for the new church building.

June 1943: The new building is dedicated.

Fall 1950: St. Joseph’s School opens in the Old Moore House and in the church’s sacristy.

Sept. 1952: St. Joseph’s School building is finished and dedicated.

Dec. 1958: A council the Knights of Columbus is chartered.

Sept. 1971: St. Joseph’s observes a centennial.

June 1978: The parish’s former rectory on Main Street becomes a group home for eight developmentally disabled women.

Oct. 1982: Church building is rededicated after being renovated.

Sept. 1993: The parish celebrates the 50^th anniversary of its third and current church building.

Nov. 4, 2007: The church’s interior is being restored and St. Joseph’s Parish observes its 150^th anniversary.

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Information sources: Jackson County History Room archives, the History of Northern Wisconsin, the Badger State Banner, the Melrose Chronicle, articles from the St. Joseph’s Dedication booklet and Centennial Directory.