history

The first St. Mary's church, under Fr. Bruno Soengen, was completely destroyed by a tornado on May 26, 1917. On this date, northern Illinois and Indiana experienced a significant weather event spawning a tornado that caused significant destruction. The storm system spawning the tornado began at 3:10 pm in Mendota, Illinois, and traveled at a rate of approximately 40 miles per hour. The storm headed in a primarily easterly direction with a very slight southern tilt, traveling just north of Elwood, Illinois, then between Crown Point and Cedar Lake, Indiana, through Hebron, and then ending in Kouts at 5:56 pm. Intense darkness was reported by those directly in the path of the storm. In Illinois, hail stones from the storm system were measured to be the size of hen's eggs, while in Porter County hail stones measuring six to ten inches in circumference and one-half pound in weight were reported to have fallen thickly in the area. Property loss in Porter County alone was estimated to $500,000 (approximately $8.4 million in 2008 dollars). In Porter County, the mile wide tornado killed two individuals, D. B. Resh, an old farmer, and fifteen year old Julia Lane. Numerous livestock were also killed, twelve family dwellings were destroyed, and significant timber and orchards in the path of the twister were heavily damaged or destroyed. The Porter County Red Cross, which was founded just one month before this tornado (April 26, 1917), raised $2,000, while the American Red Cross appropriated $3,000 to Porter County for contingency relief. These funds were used to assist forty families in Porter County. In the pictures of the ruins of St. Mary's Church below, the white tabernacle was one of the few items to survive the massive tornado. This tabernacle is still in use at the current St. Mary's Church.

The St. Mary's parish soon rebuilt an "underground church" or "basement church." During the rebuilding, a church rectory was built in the adjacent lot. The rectory is in use today as the office of St. Mary's Parish.

In 1926 under Fr. Joseph Suelzer, the present church was constructed over the old basement church. In 1934 a pipe organ was installed, by Father Augustyn Kondziela.

The current St. Mary's Catholic Church has had some changes since it was built. Under Father Fr. Joe Pavanas a front entryway was added in the 1970's. Under Father Thomas Tibbs a handicap elevator was added in 2009. The interior was repainted in the early 2000's along with the front Crucifix, the Stations of the Cross display and many of the statutes having being refurbished.

Priests of St. Mary's Catholic Church

Fr. Michael O'Reilly 1864-1887

Fr. Kobylinski 1888-1890

Fr. Frericks 1890-1892

Fr. Dominic Shunk 1892-1894

Fr. Charles Theile 1894-1897

Fr. Gregory Zorn 1897-1900

Fr. Joseph Bilstein 1900-1913

Fr. Bruno Soengen 1913-1921

Fr. Joseph Suelzer 1921-1928

Fr James Nickels 1928-1932

Fr. Augustyn Kondziela 1932-1951

fr. Gilbert Wertz 1951-1953

Fr. Bernard Shank 1953-1959

Fr Raymond Derrick 1959-1962

Fr Thaddeus Popek 1962-1963

Fr. Pascal Wodek 1963-1964

Fr Ambrose McGinnity 1964-1966

Fr John Bargielski 1966-1971

Fr George Kashmer 1971-1974

Fr. John Siekierski 1974-1975

Fr. Joe Pavanas 1975-1986

Fr Thomas Tibbs 1986-present