Church of St. John the Baptist
About this property
The Church of St. John the Baptist is a historic church building located in Burlington, Iowa, United States. Together with St. Paul's Church in Burlington and St Mary's Church in West Burlington it forms Divine Mercy parish, which is a part of the Diocese of Davenport. The parish maintains the former parish church buildings as worship sites. St. John's was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. St. John the Baptist parish was started in 1852 to serve the town's growing German community. Father Reffe, who had previously been at St Paul's, was assigned as St. John's first pastor. A church was finished by 1856 when there were forty to fifty families in the parish. They were part of the large number of German immigrants who settled in Burlington in the 1840s and 1850s. A school building was completed the following year and the School Sisters of Notre Dame served as teachers. St. John's Academy was completed in 1875. By 1879 the parish had grown to 200 families, and by 1888 it had 2,000 individual members. Its growth reflected that by the 1880s, 60% of Burlington's population were ethnic Germans. In 1876 Bishop John Hennessey of Dubuque gave the pastoral care of the parish to the Jesuits. They were later followed by Benedictines from St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas. Priests from the Davenport Diocese, which the parish became a part of in 1881, started serving the parish in 1990. The first merger of the Catholic Community in Burlington happened in the parochial schools. Both St. John's and St. Paul's operated parish-based high schools. Those separate operations merged in 1958 with the opening of Notre Dame High School on the city's west side. The two parishes continued to operate their own grade schools until 1975 when they were consolidated. St. Paul's School was the site for kindergarten through 4th Grade and St. John's housed grades five through eight. The school at Burlington's third parish, St. Patrick's, and the school at St. Mary's in West Burlington had both closed in 1969. In the 1990s a fund drive was held and a new grade school wing was added at Notre Dame. St. John's School was torn down to make room for more parking. The number of clergy in the Davenport Diocese has declined steadily since the 1960s. Demographics and religious practice in the Burlington Community also changed. Bishop Gerald O’Keefe announced a plan in 1991 to consolidate parishes throughout the diocese, and the parishes in Burlington were part of that plan. In 1998 St. John's and St. Paul's were consolidated under the leadership of the Rev. John Hyland, who had been the pastor of both parishes. The new parish name was a combination of the two parishes: Saints John and Paul. St. Patrick's and St. Mary's consolidated at the same time to form their own parish. In 2017 Saints John and Paul parish and St. Mary and St. Patrick parish merged to form Divine Mercy parish.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Church of St. John the Baptist
This page lists Church of St. John the Baptist. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Church of St. John the Baptist listed on the National Register?
Church of St. John the Baptist was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 26, 1982.
What type of historic resource is Church of St. John the Baptist?
Church of St. John the Baptist is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Church of St. John the Baptist?
The period of significance for Church of St. John the Baptist is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Church of St. John the Baptist?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Church of St. John the Baptist will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Des Moines County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Des Moines County.
Explore Des MoinesCounty ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Church of St. John the Baptist will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.