St. Joseph Catholic Church

St. Joseph Catholic Church, Logansport Indiana

In 1868 about 50 German families, at the time members of St. Vincent’s parish in Logansport, obtained permission from their Ecclesiastical Superiors to organize a parish for German speaking Catholics. They were aided by Father George Hamilton, pastor of St. Vincent’s.

The men met for the first time with Father Jacob Meyers, then acting pastor of St. Vincent’s, who was very much in sympathy with the idea of establishing a parish for German speaking people. Several meetings later it was decided to definitely organize a new parish under the patronage of St. Joseph, patron of the Universal Church.

Some of the family names on the newly organized congregation were: Grusenmeyer, Leffert, Bubel, Mitschell, Schafer, Tussing, Higley, Graf, Helms, Schneider, Gleitz, Petri, Schlosser, Baker, Hoffman, Eckert, Weigand, Spitznagle, Bergman, Mutschler, Klein and Brockman.

This first St. Joseph church was torn down in 1891.

Father Meyers of St. Vincent saw to the building of a brick church, 80'x40'. This was accomplished at the low price of $4,000 thanks to donated labor such as excavating and hauling of material. This was no easy task when we consider that almost all of the new members were immigrants who worked for a dollar or so per day and were building their homes at the same time.

In August of 1872 Bishop Joseph Dwenger appointed Rev. Henry Koehne pastor of St. Joseph's.

Cullen House - The School

The old Cullen house had been purchased years before, in 1862, with the idea of one day placing a parish there. It had been in use as a Catholic school (for the parishioners of St. Vincent's), and as a parsonage and as a home for the Sisters. It stood on 2nd and Market Streets.

 In 1877 Father Koehne secured the services of the Sisters of Notre Dame from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to teach. The Ven. Sister M. Aloysia was the first superior.

Within ten years the parish had grown to the point of needing to build a larger church, which was done in 1884-85. The first collection taken up for this project amounted to nearly $4,000! Excavations began in 1884 and the corner stone was laid on July 12, 1885. By the end of December 1885 the entire edifice was under roof.

The "new" St. Joseph church and Cullen House, 1886 during the pastorate of Rev. Henry Koehne.

This new church, 145'x64', Gothic Romanesque in style, was designed by architect Adam Boos from Chicago.

Plans for a New School

Shortly after the dedication of the new church, October 23, 1887, it was evident that steps had to be taken for building a new school. The more than 200 children were being taught partly in the old Cullen House and partly in the old church.

In 1891 the old church was torn down and the foundation laid for a modern 80'x60' three-story structure. In a little over a year the school was completed at a cost of about $27,000.00. 

St. Joseph School built in 1891-92

At the time of its Golden Jubilee, 50 year anniversary, St Joseph School was teaching 8 grades. There were 7 teachers. It had been made a free school in 1926, maintained from the general revenues of the church, aided by the activities of the St. Joseph Parent-Teacher Association. In 1936 the enrollment number was 236 students.

St. Joseph's Parsonage

Now the congregation possessed a magnificent church and modern school but still lacked a parish house aka "rectory". The old Cullen House had yet to serve as residence for the Sisters as well as a dwelling for the Pastor. Being aware of this inadequacy, the good Father Koehne purchased - with his own money - the two lots immediately west of the church. He was not privileged to see his plans through. Father Koehne passed away on November 12, 1906. 

Rev. Anthony Kroeger succeeded Koehne. Kroeger's appointment went into effect on January 1, 1907. Within a year a modern parsonage was built at a cost of about $10,000. 

Sister’s Convent Erected in 1927

The Sister's Covent was across the street from the church, on the south side of E. Market.

The house still stands as of 2017.

The School Was Replaced in 1957

Ground was broken for the school building, which still stands as of 2017, behind what is now "All Saints" Church (formerly St. Joseph; a consolidation of St. Vincent, St. Bridget and St. Joseph parishes).

The new St. Joseph Catholic School was dedicated on September 9, 1957.

Henry C. Wolf was the architect and Ed Medland and Son were the general contractors. The school is of lift slab construction and consists of two floors. The first floor had a recreation room, kitchen, restrooms, Principal's office, two classrooms and a covered play area. The second floor contains six classrooms and restrooms.