Sioux City - St. Michael

SIOUX CITY - The first recorded celebration of Mass in Leeds was May 13, 1906, and the first pastor was appointed on June 18, 1906. Eight lots were purchased at 41st and Van Buren at a cost of $1,450. A new church and attached rectory were built on the southwest corner of that site.

Rose Barkley recalls her father hauling bricks by the horse and wagon for the foundation of the new church. Completed on Aug. 5, 1907, the church was dedicated in honor of St. Michael. A mission parish in Hinton, St. Anthony of Padua, was dedicated on Nov. 22, 1914, and was attached to St. Michael Parish. It later closed and was taken down in 1933.

In the 1920s, a house was purchased at 4120 Van Buren (north of the church and rectory). This would later become the rectory in the 1950s. Lumber from the mission church was used to built and unattached garage for that house.

At the same time, in 1923, a need was seen for a parish hall. Money was collected and the parish hall was built in 1925. The words "Parish Hall" are still inscribed over the doors to the present school gym. Interestingly, when the parish hall was built, no heating system was installed due to lack of funds. This meant that it could not be used during the winter.

The new St. Michael School was attached to the parish hall and opened in 1953. It opened with 139 students and four Franciscan sisters from Dubuque for teachers. The old rectory became the convent for the sisters around this time, with the house on 4120 Van Buren becoming the new rectory.

To allow more students to attend school at St. Michael's, a second story was added to the school in 1961. In 1985, the kindergarten, music and multipurpose rooms were built.

Due to growth in the Leeds and northern Sioux City areas, a larger church was needed. The new parish church and rectory were built in 1968 at 2223 Indian Hills Drive. Growth continued in that area, as did the spiritual needs.

RCIA, CCD (PREP), baptism and marriage classes were being held. Grief and Growth, BeFrienders, MOMS and numerous other programs were being started. Meetings, church dinners and groups wanting and needing to use the parish hall were all creating impossible demands on the school, parish hall and rectory. A need was seen for a larger parish center was constructed in 1997. This new parish center has become the location of many spiritual, social and evangelizing activities.

The summer of 1999 brought mixed emotions to the history of the parish. Some of the contents of the "little church" on the corner of 41st and Van Buren streets were sold at public auction, and then the building and convent was taken down. Some of the contents were saved and will be restored for placement in the church on Indian Hills Drive. The bell is one of these items.

Since the removal of the old church, much of the area at the site of the school has been resurfaced and new sidewalks were installed around the parish's school property. The location of the "little church" has sod and a chain link fence around the playground.

St. Michael Parish has an exceptional history of "parishioner involvement." There are great stories of parishioners traveling miles by horse and buggy to Mass, of putting in many hours of food preparation for parish dinners, or collecting funds to start and sustain the grade school and of donating great amounts of labor and materials to maintaining and improving the parish plant.

Father Tim Hogan is the current pastor. Other recent pastors were Father Larry McCarty and Msgr. N.J. Ruba. Father T. Plante celebrated the parish's first Mass in 1906. Father Herman J. Schleier was the parish's first pastor and others were Father John Ryan, Father L.J. Cooper, Father A.J. Lynott, Father L.N. Klein, Father Frank Greteman, Father Arnold Huewe and Father Francis Conway.