Cherokee - Immaculate Conception

CHEROKEE - In 1870, the first Mass was celebrated here in a private home. A priest from Sioux City, Father McNulty, arrived by train. Priests from Storm Lake, LeMars and Sioux City would conduct Mass once a month in homes, halls or hotels.

The first church building was started March 4, 1873, when one dollar was paid to the Sioux City and Iowa Falls Lot and Land Company for a lot at 124 East Main St. A 20-foot by 40-foot wood frame building was constructed.

As the membership grew, a new building was needed. The new church in the 500 block of West Main was completed in 1882. The Immaculate Conception Church was used until 1907.

In 1887, an entire block of undeveloped property was purchased for $2,400. Five years later, a rectory was built on the northeast section of the block. The construction on the present church started in 1907, west of the rectory. The church is 177 feet long and 52 feet wide. It is a brick building with leaded-glass windows. The total cost of the church was estimated around $35,000.

The parish needed a Catholic school and the Servants of Mary in Beleville, Ill., were looking for a new location for the Novitiate. The school building cost $35,000 with east and west wings added later for $40,000. The parish school opened in 1909 with an enrollment of 130. There were only 8 grades the first year.

In 1910, the high school was added. In 1916, construction of a separate school building was started and it opened in 1917. When the students moved to the new building, the Servants of Mary Convent became Mount St. Mary's Academy. For financial reasons, in 1943, it was sold to a private party who developed it into an apartment building.

A home was purchased for the sisters who were teaching. They remained there until 1950, when a new convent was built attached to the west side of the church.

Also, a gymnasium-auditorium was built in 1949 for about $52,000. A new addition to the school, which cost around $250,000, was added. A new rectory was built in 1950.

In 1969, grades 10-12 were discontinued, and the entire school closed three years later. Immaculate Conception Parish currently has a religious education program, which is held in the school building.

The Servants of Mary taught in the grade school until it closed in 1972. In 1971, one of the Franciscan Sisters of Holy Family in Dubuque came to Cherokee to coordinate the high school religious education program. In 1972, she added a grade school religious education program. Sister Janice Hoffman, OSF, is the present day liturgist and music director.

In 1983, LeRoy Rupp was appointed as a permanent deacon, the first person in the parish to receive this honor.

Immaculate Conception is clustered with Visitation/Maryhill, Cherokee, and St. John the Baptist Church, Quimby.

Many priests have served IC over the years: Father McNulty (1870-1871), Father Lenahan (1871-1877), Father Meis (1877-1881), Father Gaffney (1881-1882), Father Slattery (1882-1887), Father Thomas Reynold (1887), Father J. T. Saunders (1887-1904), Father J. F. Barron (1904-1905), Father W. P. Desmond (1905-1919), Father Edward Masterson (1919-1925), Father J. M. McAuliffe (1925-1926) and Father Edward J. Smith (1926-1933).

Also assigned to Cherokee were: Father C. J. Ivis (1933-1935), Father Thomas Parle (1935-1939), Father F. P. Schultes (1939-1948), Father Louis J. Lynch (1948-1960), Father E. D. Thom (1960-1964), Father J. G. Skahill (1964-1966), Father Robert Dougherty (1966-1973), Father R. W. Reinhart (1973-1975), Father Alfred E. McCoy (1975-1983), Father Richard S. Ries (1983-1990), Father James R. Smith (1990-1997), Father Timothy R. Schott (1997-2000) and Father Armand J. Bertrand (2000-present).

[above as of 2002]