1895
St. John Catholic Church - Vincent

Parish History

   Prior to the building of a church or the appearance of a priest in Vincent, the early Catholics in the Vincent community received the Sacraments by going to Fort Dodge, a distance of some 14 miles. This involved driving to Fort Dodge by horse and buggy on Saturday. They would go to Confession that Saturday afternoon or evening, put up at a Fort Dodge hotel for the night attend Mass and receive Holy Communion on Sunday morning and drive back to Vincent. In 1890 Father Thomas O'Brien, first pastor of St. Joseph Duncombe. cared for St. John's mission church at Vincent (Roder 170). Thomas Lenihan (later bishop). pastor of Corpus
  The first Mass in Vincent was celebrated in the Vincent schoolhouse in 1895 by Father Christi Church in Fort Dodge and a man of extraordinary energy and zeal. Also in 1895 the first Vincent church was constructed on property donated by MJ, O'Brien. Among the original members of the parish were the O'Brien. Keegan, Kelly. Laurence, Griffin, Cahill and Flattery families. Some time later. Father Edmond Heelan dater bishop), pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Fort Dodge, went to Vincent once a month to celebrate Mass in the church. This continued until the Vincent church was attached to the Duncombe parish where Father Thomas O'Brien was pastor.
  Father O'Brien served as the first resident pastor at St. Joseph parish in Duncombe from 1890 until 1899. During the latter part of his pastorate there the Vincent church was placed under his charge. In 1905. the original Vincent church was destroyed by fire. Immediate plans were made and carried out for the construction of a new church with John Mallinger (Duncombe) and William Courtney (Vincent) collecting funds from both parishes to finance the undertaking. So a new church was built with little delay. Beginning in the late 1890s during the pastorate of Father O'Brien at Duncombe and continuing with subsequent pastors at Duncombe, Mass was celebrated on a regular monthly schedule at the Vincent church until 1927. In 1927 the Vincent church was closed because of the poor health of Father Arthur Cavanaugh, the pastor of St. Joseph in Duncombe at the time. The Vincent church reopened in 1931 when Father Edmond Hayes was appointed to the Duncombe pastorate and Bishop Heelan reopened the Vincent mission.
   The Vincent church was of frame construction on a lot 100 feet by 150 feet, with a seating capacity of some 200. The church was refurbished at a cost of approximately $5,000 in 1967 with new ceilings, wood paneling for the walls,carpeting,floor tile, lighting fixtures, storm windows, new oak pews, and a new altar. The Vincent church used the St. Joseph cemetery in Duncombe with the first burial from Vincent of Mrs. Bunker. 
   One year short of its centennial, St. John Church at Vincent was closed on January 16. 1994, by Bishop Lawrence D. Soens.