page_title: St. Joseph's Church Complex (Fort Madison, Iowa)
section_title: St. Joseph’s Church
hierarchical_section_title: St. Joseph's Church Complex (Fort Madison, Iowa) / History / St. Joseph’s Church
caption_attribution_description: English: The second St. Joseph's Catholic Church built in Fort Madison, Iowa in 1847 under the direction of the Rev. John G. Alleman.
context_page_description: The St. Joseph's Church Complex is a collection of historic buildings located in Fort Madison, Iowa, United States. At one time the complex housed a Catholic parish in the Diocese of Davenport. St. Joseph and St. Mary of the Assumption parishes merged in the 1990s to form Saints Mary and Joseph Parish. In 2007 when that parish merged with Sacred Heart on the west side to form Holy Family Parish, St. Joseph's Church was closed. The former church, chapel, rectory, convent, and school were included as contributing properties in the Park-to-Park Residential Historic District that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
context_section_description: The Catholic Church in Fort Madison was organized by a missionary priest to the Midwest named John George Alleman. Initially, he stayed in the home of John Gerhard Schwartz, where he also celebrated the first Mass in the town. Schwartz also offered his assistance in building the first Catholic church in the community. St. Joseph parish was organized in 1840 in what was then the Diocese of Dubuque. Besides John Schwartz, the first parishioners included his brother Henry Schwartz, Herman Dingman, Joseph Hellman, Henry Tieken, Bernard Tieken, Richard Fahey, Liborious Nelle, Henry Becker, and their families. Within six years their numbers had swelled to 75 families, and the small brick church the first families built became too small, so a new church was built in 1847. Father Alleman lived in a room in the basement of the church and, at the request of Bishop Mathias Loras, ministered to the German people of Southeastern Iowa, as well as the Illinois community of Nauvoo, Illinois.
  Father Alleman also established the first parochial school at St. Joseph's and was its first teacher. The School Sisters of Notre Dame from St. Louis were the first sisters to teach in Fort Madison. They were replaced at St. Joseph by the Congregation of the Humility of Mary. The school grew to include elementary and secondary grades. The last church building for the parish, which still stands on the east side of downtown, was built in 1886.
caption: St. Joseph's 1847 church
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