1900
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Coalville

Parish History

   Corpus Christi in Fort Dodge was the only Catholic church close by, and Sunday morning found the road to the church crowded with coal miners and their families walking to Mass. Coal mining in the Coalville area employed as many as 1.100 men in mining. The first Mass was celebrated at Coalville in about 1878 by the Very Rev. J.M. Lenehan of Fort Dodge (later Bishop of Cheyenne) in the home of Thomas Collins, a farmer who resided south of Coalville. The first Masses were celebrated in homes and later in a new school.
   The first portable altar was designed by Ella O'Connor, born in 1870, who came to Coalville when she was two years old. The altar was loaded on a wheelbarrow and, with a small truck containing altar linens and supplies, it was wheeled by Ella and her sister, Brigid, to the school building and back to their home on days when Mass was offered in their town. In 1885 the Bishop confirmed a large class in Coalville and asked for a lay catechist to assist with religious training of their children since they were quite a distance from Corpus Christi. "Papa" O'Connor offered his home and his daughter. Ella, nicknamed "Yankee," to help in teaching the word of God. Ella was not only the catechist, but the sacristan and janitor of the church. With the exception of one year, she taught
catechism to Coalville children for 67 years (Wagner). In 1952, the sisters of Sacred heart School in Fort Dodge started teaching religion classes at Assumption. Construction for the building of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary began in 1899, was completed in 1900, and was dedicated August 15, 1901, by Fr. Patrick J. Burke, the first priest to serve the congregation. The interior was remodeled and redecorated in
1954.
   In 1903 the Coalville parish became a mission of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorland. This section of the Moorland parish was incorporated according to diocesan regulation in April 1912, under the title of the Corporation of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church
   The church was closed in 1973 by a decree of the Most Rev. Frank H. Greteman, Bishop of the Sioux City Diocese.