The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-09-10

The first Holy Mass in Shakopee,
Mimi, was celebrated in the house of
Anton Entrup on January /, 1856, by
the Rev. George Keller, then pastor of
the Assumption parish of st. Paul,
MINI. Six days later Catholics of this
place and neighborhood held a meet
ing and decided to build a, church. On
July Z, 1855, the. contract for the
Building was signed. Anton Entrup
took care of the mason work, Adolf
Koerner of the carpentry. The church
was to be 50x23 feet, and was complet-
ed at the cost of nearly $1,000 cash, in
Guiding some work donated by the par
ishioners. In the fall of the same year
Rev. J. Mehlmann, the first resident
pastor of st. Marks, started to hold
services in the new church. In 1857,
Benedictine Fathers arrived in Shak-
opee and took care of st. Marks and
Of all Catholics in Carver and Scott
counties. Well and favorably are re-
membered the pastors: Revs. Bene-
diet Haindl, Cornelius Wittmann-now
venerable nonagenarian in ST. John S
Abbey-Eberhard Gahr, George Scher-
er, Bruno Ries. The church proved to
be too small to, accommodate the ever
increasing numbers of Catholic I'M.
migrants, so Father Eberhard in 1865
actually started to build the present
magnificent church which was finished
up to the roof in 1868.
1t was in 1864, when the talk was
on for new church of ST. Mark, that
the English speaking Catholics of
Shakopee decided to separate from ST.
Marks and build a church of their
own, and so started the present church
of ST. Mary of Shakopee, Mimi
In 1869, the Benedictine Fathers left
Shakopee and Rev. Gregory Koering,
a diocesan priest, was appointed pas
tor of st. Marks and of ST. Mary's.
In the same capacity served also his
successor in 1876: Rev. Alois Plut. In
1873, however, St. Mary's obtained
their own first pastor in the Rev. John
Slevin, today Vicar General of this
archdiocese. r--
During Father Plut's pastorate the
new church of ST.. Marks was COM
pleted by finishing the tower in it's
present shape. In 1882, the parish
bought the remaining one-half of the
Church Block from the Benedictine Fa-
theirs and started to build on it the
parochial school.
In 1886, Rev. Peter Jeram. called by
his faithful trustees the best collector
st. Marks ever had, succeeded Father
Plut. He bought from the Benedictine
Sisters their cloister and remodeled it
into his parsonage.
In 1889, Father Jefam was succeeded
by Rev. w. Stulz, an energetic and
jealous priest. He sold the remodeled
parsonage to the county for the pres
ent county poor house, and then bullt
the present new parsonage on the
Church Block. He left ST. Marks too
soon for it's we'll planned, steady,
sound development and was succeeded
in 1900 by the former pastor, Rev.
Alois Plut.
Under Father Plut's. second pastor
ate the school building was enlarged
by the addition of a separate Sisters
Department. A central heating plant
was established to heat all buildings
church, school, residence, and hall.
Father Plut was warm personal
friend of Archbishop ireland. They
were much together in sociable anna
bility During this pastorate the pas
tor of st. Marks parish was raised to
the privilege of an .irremovable rector