Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish – Grinnell

Founded 1906

Capuchin priests from Hays began traveling to the area in 1896, and by 1906, a new parish was organized and a church constructed.

Structural problems required the church to be rebuilt and the bell tower removed in 1915.

In the early 1920s, an old two-story building was moved near the church and converted for use as a school. It operated for about five years, and the building then was used for religious instruction.

By 1943, the church building was deteriorating, and a building fund was started. By 1947, the parish had raised $58,000, and plans for a new church were made.

Father Peter Keogan, on a visit to the University of Notre Dame, met with Francis Kervick, head of the department of architecture, about designing a church especially adapted to the needs and conditions of his parish. Kervick provided the design at no cost. It featured a connected church, rectory and garage.

The old church was razed in March 1948, and the salvaged lumber was used in the new church and rectory complex being built on a new tract of land. The new church was ready for Mass on Dec. 8, the feast day of its patron, and the rectory was completed 10 days later.

A classroom center was built in 1965.