• Church - 1877
  • Parsonage - 1877
  • School - 1904

One of the largest congregations in our county, including all faiths, is indeed our town's Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church. As of midyear 1999, there were 1780 members calling this Church their home parish.

Records show that on October 31, 1855, when Haubstadt was platted by James H. Oliver of Cincinnati, Ohio, the ground on which this church is located was reserved for the future construction of a catholic church.

At this time townspeople attended church services at St. James Catholic Church, just to the south, as did the students who enrolled in that parish school. It was in 1866 that a catholic school was built here in Haubstadt, which preceded the construction of the first church by eleven years. Never being a mission parish, Sts. Peter & Paul was one of very few (Catholic) communities in our state to have a school prior to the organization of a parish.

On March 9, 1877, James H. Oliver legally donated land to the bishop of Vincennes, the Right Reverend Maurice de Palais, thus setting the stage for the construction of the church building. Under the auspices of Reverend Joseph Merkl, then pastor of St. James, the preliminary plans were in progress. By July 12, 1877, this parish received its first resident priest, the Reverend George Widerin, who came here from his home parish of St. Mary in New Albany, Indiana. Parishioners were eager to help this young priest with the construction of the planned church. Soon the actual building of this large red brick edifice was underway. The Kessler and Meidreich firm was secured for the masonry work while Michael Hoffman was hired as the carpenter. The cornerstone was laid August 5 of that same year.

After lots of hard work and sheer determination, the first mass was celebrated on September 2, 1877. Prior to this, the school across the street had served as the parish worship center. This beautiful church came at a cost of $10,000, and was formally dedicated and blessed on May 12, 1878, by the Vicar General of the Diocese, the Reverend August Bessonies.

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