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| Our Parish History | |||||
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rides had to be made through deep snow and ice, to attend Midnight Mass. The parishioners would come down from the mountains, tie their horses up at Ed Hines’ place, and walk one mile to old St. Joseph for Mass.
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would travel to Dayton and Waitsburg by rail. Waitsburg’s first mass was said in the Parnell Hays home. Later services were held in the Knights of Pythias Hall. Several priests from Walla Walla assisted during the intervening years. In 1899, Rev. Guilelmi Auschwand began a nine year stint in the area, residing in Pomeroy. |
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In 1908, Rev. Herman Loeffler, a native of Barvaria, Germany, assumed duties
briefly, followed by the first main builder, Father Patrick Flavin. A quiet,
prayerful, Irish priest stationed in Walla Walla and seeing the need for
other churches in the many-miled area, Rev. Flavin began what was considered
a vast building program with edifices shooting up as St. Catherine in Prescott,
St. Mark in Waitsburg and St. |
Joseph in Dayton.
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In 1950, Fr. Schwemin purchased a large site on West Fifth Street in Waitsburg
and built a modern parish hall with a knotty pine interior. Work commenced
on the new St. Mark Church in 1953. The first mass was said February 7,
1954. The cost of the new church was $ 25,000. Rev. Schwemin spent countless
hours building pews, making crosses and doing finishing work. |
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A two year project began march, 1966 with the addition of four classrooms, storage room and
the expansion of the kitchen area.
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The lower level provides the space for three classrooms. The entire cost for construction of the new church was $ 300,000.
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St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church was built in 1914 in Prescott. The building was dismantled in about 1940. Masses were held in private homes prior to the construction of the church. The priest often arrived in Prescott by train from Starbuck. |
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