History of St. Patrick's Catholic Church

Saint Patrick's Church is a Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of Dubuque. It is located at 14th and Iowa Streets in Dubuque, Iowa. It is unique in that it is located only two blocks away from St. Mary's Church which was originally built for the growing German families in Dubuque.

The church was originally founded in 1852 as a mission of Saint Raphael's Cathedral, and was mainly intended for the Irish settlers of Dubuque. The parish was built on land that Bishop Loras had purchased when it was offered for sale by the Federal government. Originally, a wood frame building was used as a church building, this church building was located at what is now the front of the existing church and the rectory. Eventually, a new larger church was built at the northern end of the property. This church was enlarged in the 1920's.

While the parish still maintains a healthy respect for the Irish heritage over its many years of service, now Saint Patrick's specializes in service the Hispanic residents of Dubuque. The parish offers a 1 pm Mass on Sundays that is said in Spanish and the offices of Hispanic ministry is also located at the parish. Due to the priest shortage, the parish does not currently have a resident pastor, rather, the administration of the parish is handled by a Deacon.The parish also shares staff and facilities with nearby Saint Mary's Church.

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Church_(Dubuque)

Irish immigrants brought sisters, schools, shamrocks

BVMs share a birthday with City of Dubuque

By JEFF MEYER
Special to the Telegraph Herald

What do the citizens of Dubuque and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary have in common?

They are both celebrating 175 years (1833-2008) since the founding of their respective communities.

The BVMs staffed the earliest Catholic schools in the Iowa Territory. In 1843, one such school was called St. Mary's Female Academy, which was situated at the present St. Raphael's property at Third and Bluff streets.

In the 1850s the third Catholic parish of Dubuque, St. Patrick, came into existence: however, this new parish began as a mission of St. Raphael's. Shamrocks continued to sprout in Dubuque as this Irish dominated mission built a four-room, brick school circa 1870. This parish school was located along the north side of 14th Street, between Main and Iowa streets. The BVMs instructed at this all-boys school.

Around 1879, the BVMs moved their boarding school at 13th and Main streets to Mount St. Joseph Academy on Seminary Avenue (now Clarke College on Clarke Drive). The location, at 13th and Main streets, became the parochial school for the St. Patrick girls.

The increasing enrollment at the boys school on l4th Street required a new school to be built. This school consisted of three classrooms on each of the lower two floors, with an auditorium on the third floor. It was erected in 1901, on l5th Street on the west side of and adjacent to St. Patrick Church. The church, which was formally dedicated onAug. 15, 1878, still stands.

The St. Patrick girls eventually transferred to the school on l5th Street.

The former private residence on the southeast corner of Loras Boulevard and Locust Street became the school for the primary grades around 1941. Today, this structure is a chiropractic office.

The BVMs, who taught at St. Patrick, took up residence at the mansion on the northwest corner of Loras Boulevard and Main Street in 1950. Today, the former convent survives as a bed-and-breakfast.

ln 1942, the property, at the southeast corner of 15th and Main streets was purchased to build a new school. Construction was under way at the end of the decade. The cream-colored brick school was finished in 1952. The building, a modern style, was dedicated on March 17,1952 (the patron's feast day), with prayers said by the Most Rev. Leo Binz.

At the 15th Street entrance an inscription extols, 'An equal chance to all. Success to him (her) who strives 1951." In the 1950s, dances were on the roof above the second floor. This upper level above the gymnasium also was used as a playground. In 1962, classrooms were added where the rooftop playground once was.

Sister Carolyn Farrell, BVM, was principal of St. Patrick's school from 1969 to 1974. She later became mayor of Dubuque in 1980. According to Farrell, St. Patrick students planted a tree at Jackson Park for the first Earth Day on April 22,1970. During this time, there were about five BVM's and eight lay people on the teaching staff. Sister Farrell noted that the St. Patrick eighth grade students enjoyed an annual field trip to Chicago. The mascot at St. Patrick was the Shamrock.

Not only nuns but mothers also were special purveyors of love and wisdom at St. Patrick, as evidenced by the weekly "Hot Dog Day." Because there wasn't a hot lunch program for many years, students were treated by volunteer mothers who would serve lunch to the students in the classroom once a week.
Mothers also volunteered in the library.

A principal, who served after Farrell, was Steve Cornelius. Cornelius fondly reminisced that St. Patrick's had a "sense of neighborhood and generosity." An inspiring demonstration of this generous goodwill was exhibited bv St. Patrick's school children. In the twilight years of the 20th century, coins were donated by the students of the shamrock in the war against cancer.

In 1976, a kindergarten was established in hopes of increasing student enrollment in the primary grades. Another attempt - later, at keeping St. Patrick's afloat - was the merging of the school with St. Mary's in 1982.

Then in 2002, St. Mary, st. Patrick, HolyTriniry and Sacred Heart combined to form St. Francis school. And finally in June 2004, the St. Patrick location was closed. Today, the former school of Sisters and Shamrocks is the home of Four Oaks, a therapeutic and purpose directed school for challenged youth.

Indeed the Latin phrase, "perferte O discipuli Sancti Patrici!" (carry on, oh, students of St. Patrick!) is followed through well into the 2lst century.

This belated Mother's Day article is dedicated to the best mom in the whole world - my mother Pattie (Mentzer) Meyer a former St. Patrick's student.

The writer is a forever student of history and a true blue Dubuquer who has the commonweal of Dubuque in mind, He graduated from Hempstead High School (1982) and Loras College (2002). Email jeff at jjthedrafter@yahoo.com

Original TH article in PDF: /Documents/THStPats.pdf

St. Patrick

Nativity

Front Votive Altar

Back Entrance

WELCOME TO ST. PATRICK'S PARISH

History of St. Patrick's Catholic Church