St. Patrick’s Church was founded in 1924 as the fourth parish in Council Bluffs. The intention of building St. Patrick’s was to serve the northeast section of the city as well as the personnel who worked at Mercy Hospital. The red Sioux Quartzite stone* used to construct the church previously paved Broadway. The stones were used for our church, a church in Dunlap, Iowa, and the parish hall in Defiance, Iowa. The church property was purchased in December of 1924 at the corner of Baughn and Harmony Streets. The land bought was previously owned by John and Emma Curry and Ella and R. Ottelia Falk. Total price for the property was $14,500 with payments going to the Curry’s for $75.00 a month. The first pastor at St. Patrick’s was Fr. Cletus Portel. He was granted permission by Bishop Thomas W. Drumm of the Diocese of Des Moines to obtain a $25,000.00 bank loan for land costs and construction of the church. Building began on June 1, 1925.
While the church was being built, parishioners attended Mass at Mt. Loretto Catholic High School, an all-girls Catholic School serving the city in the 1920’s. As a school Mt. Loretto did not close until the founding of St. Albert’s in 1964. Mt. Loretto stood at the corner of North Broadway and Oak Street. St. Patrick’s was officially dedicated by Bishop Drumm on April 25, 1926. Fr. Portel presided at St. Patrick’s only a few years before being transferred to a church in Dunlap, Iowa in 1927. After Fr. Cletus Portel left for a new assignment, Msgr. J.F. Costello was assigned to St. Patrick’s and presided for 25 years.
The first Baptism for a St. Patrick’s parishioner was recorded to have taken place on October 26, 1924, before the church was even built. The first funeral took place on May 9, 1925, and the first marriage was celebrated on May 16, 1926.
*The stone was analyzed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 2024 by an expert in geology and an expert in geotechnical engineering to verify it was Sioux Quartzite stone, likely from southeast South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, northwestern Iowa or northeastern Nebraska areas.
