Lenox Catholic church to celebrate 150 years

Lenox’ St. Patrick’s Catholic Church will celebrate its 150th anniversary Saturday, Sept. 17. The Lenox community is invited to attend a meal from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. followed by games and entertainment. The meal will be pulled pork, beans, chips, tea, lemonade, water, ice cream and cookies. There will be no chicken and ham dinner this year as the celebration will take its place.

Dwayne Gaunt will provide music.

In 1869 the Benedectine Abbey of Conception, Missouri, sent several priests to Creston. Their mission was to serve an area within a 100 mile radius, which would include Lenox. It wasn’t until 1872, two priests, Father Placidus McKeever and Father Eugene Phalen, started coming to Lenox on a regular basis. These two priests traveled by horseback from Creston to Lenox to celebrate Mass in the Griffin School House two miles south of town. Also, the Hayes,’ Caruthers’ and Conners’ homes in Lenox were used for Mass. Together, Fathers McKeever and Phalen were dedicated in bringing Christ to all people in the surrounding area, most especially the promising town of Lenox.

In 1875, the property of 600 W. Michigan was purchased. Several prime corner lots on Main Street had been considered, but this was a spacious lot and on the edge of town, making it accessible for the teams of horses that would pull families to church every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation in wagons and buggies. These families came to attend Mass from all four directions in every kind of weather.

Immediately the families began building a church on the lot. The first church was a 20x25 modest wooden frame structure, with wooden blocks as the foundation. Francis Nagle, from an early pioneer family, told of her father pledging $50 toward the first church. He had no idea where he would get that much cash when he made the pledge as times were hard. However, he had a good potato crop that year and sold potatoes to help feed the railroad gang that was working south of town. Thus, he was able to keep his pledge.

This little church stood for nine years and then it became obvious that it was much too small as a good number of Catholic families had come to settle in the Lenox area. They even had two masses a Sunday, one at 8 a.m. and one at 10 a.m. and there was still not enough room for everyone.

A larger, second church was built in 1881 just west of the 20x25 original church. The two structures were attached and the original church was used as a sacristy. In 1883, Phalen, one of the first two mission priests, unsaddled his horse and became Lenox’ first resident priest. He resided in a modest house a few block away at 500 E. Ohio St.

In 1889 the people of the parish saw it that their priest and future priest needed to reside closer to the church. Father John Standler was now the resident priest and the Lenox congregation persuaded him to build a new house just east of the church. This two-story house stood proudly for 119 years. It served many priests, later became an office and a place for children to attend religious education classes.

Father John Noonon’s first assignment as a priest was here in Lenox. He arrived in 1900 and was driving the first self-starting care just as the outgoing priest was leaving in a horse and a buggy. Noonan soon found out that his car would go go very many places and bought a horse and buggy. In the horse and buggy days, everyone had their own hitching posts which were on the east and west side of the church. No one dared to tie up their team to the wrong hitching post - just like the church pews - everyone had their own.

In 1911 the Diocese of Des Moines was formed by Pope Pious X. It included 54 parishes, 28 missions, 68 priests and 17 Catholic schools. Bishop Austin Dowling became the first bishop. Father James Troy was the first pastor to serve under the brand new Diocese of Des Moines. He was a young priest only six years ordained and had already built two other churches. Father Troy began plans for a larger church. He was a seasoned builder of beautiful buildings and churches and was recognized and respected as an authority as well as an experienced contractor. Bishop Dowling came to St. Patrick’s in 1913 to bless the cornerstone of the church. The cornerstone is on the southwest corner of the church. 1913 is inscribed in stone.

The church was not completed until 1914. The church was built in a year’s time at a cost of $24,000. The brick church was built in between the second and the rectory. People came from near and farm to donate their labor to help build Christ’s new home. One retired architect took the train every day from Bedford to Lenox to donate his time and talent to help build and excavate this monumental glass windows. The new church could seat 400 people. Dowling came back and dedicated the new church on May 3, 1914, and could not believe the church building was debt free.