Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish (Cresco, Iowa)

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish (Cresco, Iowa)

"The oldest Catholic parish in Howard County began with four families from Canada with the family names of Christmas, Hannigan, Ryan and Welsh. At first priests from Prairie du Chien came to serve them, but in 1853 Father Clement Lowery from Decorah attended to their needs. They built a limestone church on property purchased from James Upton in Vernon Springs, just south of Cresco. Family names then included Barnes, Carroll, Conner, Conry, Donahue, Glass, Higgins, Logue, Long, Ploff, Reynolds, Schaefer and Sweet. When the railroad located its depot in Cresco, many of the Catholics moved from Vernon Springs into Cresco and so the first resident pastor, Father James Harding, celebrated Mass in Cresco."

- Kurt, Rev. Msgr. Edgar, "Parish Profile #58," The Witness, January 24, 1988.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque.
The Center for Dubuque History at Loras College.

Loras College
Kucera Center for Catholic Thought
Frank and Ida Goedken Series: "Spiritual Life in the Upper Mississippi River Valley"

Burback, Emily. Burns, Daniel. Gibson, Michael. Oberfoell, Carol. Waldmeir, Helen. Waldmeir, John.

English.

ca. 1853-
Historical documents pertaining to Assumption parish and its parishioners.

Various primary and secondary sources.