St. Anthony's Catholic Church (Davenport, Iowa)
Encyclopedia
Saint Anthony's Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport
. The church is located in Davenport, Iowa
, United States
, at the corner of 4th and Main Streets. It is the first church congregation organized in the city of Davenport and the second, after St. Raphael's Cathedral in Dubuque
, in the state of Iowa
. The parish buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
as St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church Complex. The designation includes the church and the former school building, which is the parish's original church building and is the oldest standing church building in the state of Iowa. The designation also included the rectory, which was torn down in 2009. It is also listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 1992 as St. Anthony's Church Square. The property has been known historically as Church Square.
In 1832, on what is now the site of Davenport, Iowa, Chief
Keokuk
of the Sauk tribe signed a treaty with the United States government after the tribe’s defeat in the Black Hawk War
. The tribe ceded land on the west side of the Mississippi River
, which was then opened to settlement. Antoine LeClaire
, who was French-Pottawattamie and served as translator at the treaty signing, received two parcels of land. The original section of the city was laid out in 1836. The next year an addition was made to the small town on one of LeClaire’s parcels. He stipulated that a Catholic church be built on one of the squares. That same year frontier missionary Rev. Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli
, OP arrived in Davenport and started the parish. At that time there were 25 Catholics in a town of 100 people.
Mazzuchelli drew up plans for a simple two story structure that would serve as a church and priest’s residence. He actually gave the parish two patron saints. St. Peter is the parish's primary patron, and St. Anthony is its secondary patron. However the parish has always been known as St. Anthony's, the patron saint of its benefactor Antoine LeClaire. Ground was broken for the new church on April 27, 1838, and Bishop Mathias Loras
of Dubuque
dedicated the new structure on May 23, 1839. The first bricks manufactured in the city of Davenport were used to build the church. The building served many purposes for the small community. It was a church, city hall, court house, school house, public forum, and gathering place for the citizens of the town. The church's bell called parishioners to Mass, children to school, sounded the alarm for a fire, as well as summoning the city's aldermen for their sessions.
The church had a small choir which included Antoine LeClaire and Judge C. G. R. Mitchell, who would provide the land for the city's first Catholic cemetery and two of the churches in the city's west end. There was, however, no organ. Instead, music was led by a small ensemble made up of a violin, clarionet, flute and cello.
The parish's first pastor was a French immigrant priest recruited by Bishop Loras, Rev. J.A.M. Pelamourgues
, who arrived in Davenport in September 1839. He served the parish until 1868 when he remained in his native France while he was vistiting there. Initially Father Pelamourgues resided in a partitioned section of the gallery of the church. He was also responsible for more than the small parish in Davenport. He traveled to other Catholic communities in the region: Muscatine, Iowa City, Burlington, Columbus Junction, DeWitt and Lyons (the northside of present day Clinton).
St. Anthony’s School opened in 1839 with Father Pelamourgues as its teacher. Initially, classes were taught in the body of the church with a curtain closing off the sanctuary. In 1844 the church building was extended 35 feet (10.7 m) to the east to accommodate the new classroom space. In 1846 Father Pelamourgues convinced the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
to teach in the school, and to start a school for girls. However, financial conditions were such that the sisters only stayed for one year. They returned in 1855 and re-established the academy and taught at St. Anthony's. Immaculate Conception Academy was refounded as a girl's school, and was located up the hill from St. Anthony’s. It remained in operation until it was merged with St. Ambrose Academy to form Assumption High School
in 1958. The parish school at St. Anthony's continued until it closed in 1968.
front, deep eave returns and a modillion frieze
. The interior plan features a larger central nave
that is flanked by side aisles. The original building was remodeled for more classroom space at this time. The rectory was built around 1877.
New parishes were beginning to form in Davenport that took parishioners from St. Anthony’s. St. Kunigunda (1855), which was renamed St. Joseph
in 1881, served the pastoral needs of the growing German Community. St. Margaret’s (1856) was built on top of the bluff
to the east of downtown. St. Margaret’s became Davenport’s first cathedral
in 1881 with the establishment of the Davenport Diocese. St. Anthony’s was not chosen to be the cathedral because its downtown location was considered inappropriate. St. Margaret’s was renamed Sacred Heart when the present cathedral was built in 1891. St. Mary's Church
was started in the 1860s to serve the English speaking Catholics of the west end.
Even though these new parishes were being formed, St. Anthony’s continued to grow. Transept
wings with balconies were added to the church in 1885, and the sanctuary was extended 18 feet (5.5 m). A larger sacristy was also added to the church. The addition was built of brick.
The grotto to the Blessed Virgin Mary on the north side of the church was added in the 1920s. It was rebuilt in 1998 and the current statue was placed in it in 1999.
A major renovation was carried out in 1949 when a manufactured stone facing, or permastone, was put on the 1885 addition to the church, the school (original church) and the rectory. This gave the parish complex a unified appearance. The north wing was also added to the school building. This was the last addition made to the original building. There was also an addition made to the rectory to create more living space for the resident clergy.
In the 1960s changes were made to facilitate the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council
. While the communion rail was removed and a new free standing altar was created so the priest could face the congregation, the old altars, frescos and statuary remain in the church.
One of the more colorful chapters in the parish’s history were the Folk Masses of the 1970s. Rev. James Grubb, the associate pastor, inspired the masses that included contemporary music played on guitars, colorful vestments, and young people sitting around the floor of the sanctuary.
In 1987 the parish celebrated its sesquicentennial. To commemorate the occasion, a sculpture was commissioned and placed on the front of the church property facing Main Street. It depicts Father Mazzuchelli, a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a child representing the children who attended the parish school, Col. George Davenport
(for whom the city of Davenport was named) and Antoine LeClaire. The statue group stands atop a pedestal that encloses the churches original bell.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport is a diocese of the Catholic Church for the southeastern quarter of the state of Iowa. There are within the diocese...
. The church is located in Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, at the corner of 4th and Main Streets. It is the first church congregation organized in the city of Davenport and the second, after St. Raphael's Cathedral in Dubuque
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....
, in the state of Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
. The parish buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church Complex. The designation includes the church and the former school building, which is the parish's original church building and is the oldest standing church building in the state of Iowa. The designation also included the rectory, which was torn down in 2009. It is also listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 1992 as St. Anthony's Church Square. The property has been known historically as Church Square.
Development
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
Keokuk
Keokuk (Sauk chief)
Keokuk was a chief of the Sauk or Sac tribe in central North America noted for his policy of cooperation with the U.S. government which led to conflict with Black Hawk, who led part of their band into the Black Hawk War...
of the Sauk tribe signed a treaty with the United States government after the tribe’s defeat in the Black Hawk War
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict fought in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans headed by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos known as the "British Band" crossed the Mississippi River into the U.S....
. The tribe ceded land on the west side of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, which was then opened to settlement. Antoine LeClaire
Antoine LeClaire
Antoine LeClaire was a US Army interpreter, landowner in Scott County, Iowa and Rock Island County, Illinois, businessman, philanthropist and principal founder of Davenport, Iowa-Early life:...
, who was French-Pottawattamie and served as translator at the treaty signing, received two parcels of land. The original section of the city was laid out in 1836. The next year an addition was made to the small town on one of LeClaire’s parcels. He stipulated that a Catholic church be built on one of the squares. That same year frontier missionary Rev. Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli
Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli
Father Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, O.P. was a pioneer Italian Catholic missionary who helped bring the church to the Iowa-Illinois-Wisconsin tri-state area. He founded a number of parishes in the area, and was the architect for a number of parish buildings.-Background:Father Mazzuchelli was born...
, OP arrived in Davenport and started the parish. At that time there were 25 Catholics in a town of 100 people.
Mazzuchelli drew up plans for a simple two story structure that would serve as a church and priest’s residence. He actually gave the parish two patron saints. St. Peter is the parish's primary patron, and St. Anthony is its secondary patron. However the parish has always been known as St. Anthony's, the patron saint of its benefactor Antoine LeClaire. Ground was broken for the new church on April 27, 1838, and Bishop Mathias Loras
Mathias Loras
Bishop Mathias Loras was an immigrant French priest to the United States who later became the first bishop of the Dubuque Diocese in what would become the state of Iowa.-Early Life & Ministry:...
of Dubuque
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. It includes all the Iowa counties north of Polk, Jasper, Poweshiek, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar, and Clinton counties. ...
dedicated the new structure on May 23, 1839. The first bricks manufactured in the city of Davenport were used to build the church. The building served many purposes for the small community. It was a church, city hall, court house, school house, public forum, and gathering place for the citizens of the town. The church's bell called parishioners to Mass, children to school, sounded the alarm for a fire, as well as summoning the city's aldermen for their sessions.
The church had a small choir which included Antoine LeClaire and Judge C. G. R. Mitchell, who would provide the land for the city's first Catholic cemetery and two of the churches in the city's west end. There was, however, no organ. Instead, music was led by a small ensemble made up of a violin, clarionet, flute and cello.
The parish's first pastor was a French immigrant priest recruited by Bishop Loras, Rev. J.A.M. Pelamourgues
J.A.M. Pelamourgues
Jean-Antoine-Marie Pelamourgues was a French missionary who was one of the first Roman Catholic priests to serve in the Diocese of Dubuque in the state of Iowa. He served as the first pastor of St. Anthony's Church in Davenport, Iowa from 1839-1868.-Early Life & Ministry:Pelamourgues was born in...
, who arrived in Davenport in September 1839. He served the parish until 1868 when he remained in his native France while he was vistiting there. Initially Father Pelamourgues resided in a partitioned section of the gallery of the church. He was also responsible for more than the small parish in Davenport. He traveled to other Catholic communities in the region: Muscatine, Iowa City, Burlington, Columbus Junction, DeWitt and Lyons (the northside of present day Clinton).
St. Anthony’s School opened in 1839 with Father Pelamourgues as its teacher. Initially, classes were taught in the body of the church with a curtain closing off the sanctuary. In 1844 the church building was extended 35 feet (10.7 m) to the east to accommodate the new classroom space. In 1846 Father Pelamourgues convinced the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known by their initials BVM, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded in the United States by Mother Mary Frances Clarke. BVM Sisters work in twenty-five U.S...
to teach in the school, and to start a school for girls. However, financial conditions were such that the sisters only stayed for one year. They returned in 1855 and re-established the academy and taught at St. Anthony's. Immaculate Conception Academy was refounded as a girl's school, and was located up the hill from St. Anthony’s. It remained in operation until it was merged with St. Ambrose Academy to form Assumption High School
Assumption High School (Davenport, Iowa)
Assumption High School is a Roman Catholic high school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport. Charles Elbert is the current principal of Assumption High....
in 1958. The parish school at St. Anthony's continued until it closed in 1968.
Growth
The parish continued to grow. By 1847 there were 450 parishioners, which was still a quarter of the town's population. In 1850 the front section of the present church was begun. The building, completed in 1853 in the simple Greek Revival style, was built of stone and measured 94 by. The structure features a gableGable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
front, deep eave returns and a modillion frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
. The interior plan features a larger central nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
that is flanked by side aisles. The original building was remodeled for more classroom space at this time. The rectory was built around 1877.
New parishes were beginning to form in Davenport that took parishioners from St. Anthony’s. St. Kunigunda (1855), which was renamed St. Joseph
St. Joseph's Catholic Church (Davenport, Iowa)
Saint Joseph Catholic Church is a former parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport. The church is located in Davenport, Iowa, United States, at the corner of Marquette and W. 6th Streets. It is listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties and on the National Register of...
in 1881, served the pastoral needs of the growing German Community. St. Margaret’s (1856) was built on top of the bluff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
to the east of downtown. St. Margaret’s became Davenport’s first cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
in 1881 with the establishment of the Davenport Diocese. St. Anthony’s was not chosen to be the cathedral because its downtown location was considered inappropriate. St. Margaret’s was renamed Sacred Heart when the present cathedral was built in 1891. St. Mary's Church
St. Mary's Catholic Church (Davenport, Iowa)
Saint Mary's Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Davenport. The church is located in Davenport, Iowa, United States, at the corner of Fillmore and W. 6th Streets. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Complex...
was started in the 1860s to serve the English speaking Catholics of the west end.
Even though these new parishes were being formed, St. Anthony’s continued to grow. Transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
wings with balconies were added to the church in 1885, and the sanctuary was extended 18 feet (5.5 m). A larger sacristy was also added to the church. The addition was built of brick.
20th Century
By the turn of the 20th century St. Anthony's became the only church downtown. By the end of the first decade the parish's boundaries had become fixed to the central city with the founding of two parishes on top of the hill: Holy Family (1898) in the northwest part of the city and St. Paul the Apostle (1909) on the east side.The grotto to the Blessed Virgin Mary on the north side of the church was added in the 1920s. It was rebuilt in 1998 and the current statue was placed in it in 1999.
A major renovation was carried out in 1949 when a manufactured stone facing, or permastone, was put on the 1885 addition to the church, the school (original church) and the rectory. This gave the parish complex a unified appearance. The north wing was also added to the school building. This was the last addition made to the original building. There was also an addition made to the rectory to create more living space for the resident clergy.
In the 1960s changes were made to facilitate the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
. While the communion rail was removed and a new free standing altar was created so the priest could face the congregation, the old altars, frescos and statuary remain in the church.
One of the more colorful chapters in the parish’s history were the Folk Masses of the 1970s. Rev. James Grubb, the associate pastor, inspired the masses that included contemporary music played on guitars, colorful vestments, and young people sitting around the floor of the sanctuary.
In 1987 the parish celebrated its sesquicentennial. To commemorate the occasion, a sculpture was commissioned and placed on the front of the church property facing Main Street. It depicts Father Mazzuchelli, a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a child representing the children who attended the parish school, Col. George Davenport
George Davenport
Colonel George Davenport was a 19th-century American frontiersman, trader and US Army officer. A prominent and well-known settler in the Iowa Territory, he was one of the earliest settlers in Rock Island and spent much of his life involved in the early settlement of the Mississippi Valley and the...
(for whom the city of Davenport was named) and Antoine LeClaire. The statue group stands atop a pedestal that encloses the churches original bell.