Family:Harvey Newquist and Mary Hartmann (1)

This is the church that Harvey and Mabel were married in. I remember my mother talking about Father Flach as the presiding priest at their marriage. He retired in 1923. HPN2

DYER. St. Joseph's Church. 1867.

The priests who had charge of St. Joseph's Church at Dyer were the following: Prior to 1867, Rev. M. P. Wehrle, Turkey Creek. The following were resident pastors: Rev. Jacob Schmitz, from April 1867 till July 1870; Rev. B. Theodore Borg, from July 1870 till September 1871; Rev. H. Meissner, Crown Point, September till December 1871; Rev. Bernard [310]Wiedau, from January till December 1872; Rev. Anthony King, from December 1872 till April 1874; Rev. F. J. Freund, from May 24, 1874 till August 1875; Rev. Charles Steurer, from August 4, 1875 till January 30, 1878; Rev. Joseph Flach, from March 5, 1878 till august 3, 1883; Rev. Charles V. Stetter, D. D., from August 23, 1883 till July 29, 1888; Rev. Joseph Flach, again, since July 29, 1888.

Prior to 1867, the Catholics of Dyer and vicinity were visited by Father Wehrle of Turkey Creek; they were considered members of St. John's Congregation, at St. John. The first church was a frame building, erected in 1867, by Father Schmitz, the first resident pastor of Dyer. The church cost from $4,000 to $5,000. The church grounds comprise about four acres of land. In 1893, Father Flach improved the church by replastering, frescoing, painting the building and putting in stained glass windows, and in 1899, giving the church a basement, with a chapel, all of which was done at a cost of $2,500. The church, with its new altars and pipe organ, was now in very good condition; but on December 28, 1902, the entire church and contents were destroyed by fire. Father Flach, however, went to work and, on July 12, 1903, the corner-stone of a new church was laid by Bishop Alerding. The present church is a brick and cut stone Gothic structure, 118x43 1/2 feet, with a tower 125 feet high. The dedication took place on November 26, 1903, the Rev. J. H. Bathe, officiating. The entire cost of the church is $18,500. The seating capacity is 40

The parochial school was opened in September 1901. The building of which has been improved since, and a house for the Sisters erected, for $1,600. Two Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart, of Joliet, have charge of the school, teaching the usual grads. The attendance at school is eighty-seven.

The priest's house built in 1869 was moved, remodeled and improved, including a new heating apparatus, for $1,700 in 1905. The church has a debt of $3,675. The number of souls is 413, consisting of seventy-five families. Three girls of the parish have become Sisters.

St. Joseph's Parish has the Society of the Holy Childhood, since 1880; the Young Ladies' Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, since 1880, forty members; the W. C. O. F., since 1898, [311] fifty members; the C. O. F., sixty-five members, and the Catholic Columbian League, forty members; the Confraternity of Christian Mothers, forty-four members; and the Confraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.