Anthon - St. Joseph

ANTHON - The story of the beginnings of the Catholic faith in the area around Anthon begins in 1871 when a Father McNulty had contact with the pioneer Catholics. Father George Cook recorded this and other vital  facts about Anthon in a booklet printed to mark the completion of the present church building in 1912.

Father Cadden, in 1872, offered the first Mass in the territory in the home of Dan Caine with 14 people present. Father Bedard, Father B. C. Lenihan and Father Norton ministered in the area for the next few years.

In 1881, regular attention started with Father James Barron of LeMars offering Masses in the homes of the Roarks, Jermans and Corrigans.

A church was built in Lucky Valley in 1882, four miles west of the present town of Anthon. Father Tim Meagher of Danbury cared for this church from 1883 to 1887. Father Meagher built a church in Correctionville, which was destroyed by a tornado and never replaced. The people of Correctionville have ever since been members of St. Joseph's in Anthon.

In 1890, the coming railroad caused Lucky Valley to move to the present site of Anthon with the church being moved there. With 1893, Father Michael M. Tierney of Kingsley took charge and moved to Anthon to be the first resident pastor. Father Tierney purchased the present location of the church and built a rectory.

Father Daniel J. O'Brien (1895-1902) and Father James Kelly (1902-1910) followed. A new school was built in 1908 as a three-story building with sisters housed on the third floor. Franciscan Sisters from Clinton were the staff.

The people of the parish responded to a call for a new church in 1911. Some $30,000 was raised and William Steele, architect of the Woodbury County Court House was engaged.

The new church was completed in 1912. The entire cost was $37,091. A new rectory was also built in 1913.

Father Cooke (1910-1920), Father Denis K. Hurley (1920-1938), Father Louis J. Savage (1938-1939) and Father Al M. Conlon (1939-1969) all served St. Joseph's. Father Clement T. Flannery also had a short service at Anthon, for 11 months in 1959 and 1960.

St. Joseph's School was a vital part of the parish. There was kindergarten and eight grades with a class added each year until 1912. The Servants of Mary from Cherokee took over the school in 1913. At the beginning of the depression in the 1930's, the high school was discontinued.

Fire gutted the school building in 1957 and classes met in the church hall until it was rebuilt. The top floor was not replaced because a new convent was completed in 1958 for the sisters. The church was also redecorated in 1962. In June of 1969, the school came to an end due to staffing shortages.

Father George J. Benjamin (1968-1971) and Father J. G. Skahill (1971-1987) also served their pastorate at St. Joseph's. When the school closed the Franciscan Sisters of Dubuque sent sisters to live in the convent to teach religion classes at Anthon, Oto, Moville and Holstein. Many difficulties brought this program to an end in 1971.

The church was rewired, carpeted, brickwork repaired, exterior painted, restrooms installed in the hall and the altar rearranged for the changes in the liturgy so that its traditional appearance would be changed as little as possible in 1970.

The convent became the rectory, after some remodeling, in 1971.

Father Gerald Zensen (1987-1995) came to the parish. He led a drive to preserve the stained glass windows in the church. Donations supplied the funds to repair and paint the wood frames, to replace the storm glass with plate glass and to recement the stained glass from the outside. The total cost was $29,218.

The Centennial was celebrated in 1989.

In 1995, St. Joseph's was clustered with St. Mary's of Danbury, St. Mary's of Mapleton and St. Mary's of Oto. Father David Hogan (1995-2000) became the priest for Anthon and Danbury. Father Mark Harrington (2000-2001) and Father William Schreiber (2001-present) followed as pastor.