Mount Carmel - Our Lady of Mount Carmel

In 1868, Bishop Hennessey encouraged Lambert Kniest, Henry Baumhover and a few friends to establish a settlement of democratic German Catholics in good standing. So they went west until they arrived at an elevated plateau. After discovering that it was the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the men named the sight and returned to Dubuque.

The I. Blair Land and Townlot Company appointed Kniest the exclusive agent to sell 25 acres of wild prairie land to 50 settlers in five years or the agreement was not valid. The last two plots were given away to complete the contract made in 1869.

Kniest plotted the town with the church in the center, the school to the north and a cemetery north of that. Additionally, the parsonage was to the east of the church. Kniest also planned a home for the aged which was never built.

The first church built in 1869 was a frame structure on a stone foundation. It was 24-feet by 40-feet of unknown cost. This was the only Catholic Church between Boone and Council Bluffs. Father Henry J. Heimbucher was appointed the first pastor.

The second church was built in 1881, a brick structure. It was burned in 1883, possibly by incense. The third church lasted until the steeple was struck by lightning in 1892. The third church was also destroyed by fire in 1906 and once again rebuilt. The 1906 structure still stands today.

In 1874, the first church was expanded to include the first school, with six Catholic lay teachers. In 1880, the Franciscan Sisters of LaCrosse, Wis., sent sisters to conduct school at Mt. Carmel. The Sisters continued until 1986, with 106 contiguous years of service.

A new school was built in 1912. The last class to graduate high school was in 1958, with 13 graduates. In 1983, Lidderdale and Maple River untied Mt. Carmel and in 1983 the last eighth grade class graduated. In the fall of that year, Breda untied to form Christ the King School with 1-5 grades in Mt. Carmel. Grades 6-8 were at the Breda center. Full day kindergarten started in 1990. Mt. Carmel then had grades K-4 with grades 5-8 in Breda. There are currently 70 students in the Mt. Carmel center and 72 in the Breda Center.

Many pastors have served Mt. Carmel over the years: Fathers Henry. J. Heimbucher, John Kempker, Theodore Wegmann, John B. Ferderich, John Anler, Ignalius Rottler, Gerhard H. Luehsmann, Frederich W. Huesmann, Albert J. Schaefer, John B. Bauemler, Edward J. Jungblutt, Simon P. Roth, Bernard Loeffelholz, Peter M. Sturm, Otmar W. Koester, Dale F. Koster, Leroy Seuntjens, Jerome Cosgrove, Michael Larkin, Msgr. A. W. Behrens and Robert Brown.

There have been many vocations from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. There have been nine vocations to the priesthood and 30 vocations to women religious from the parish.