St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church - Mokane, MO - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

County of church: Callaway County
Location of church: Collier St & Adams St., Mokane
Phone: (573) 642-5562
Pastor: Rev. Frank A. Bussmann

Sign Text:

Slight difference in facts, the church web site claims they built the church in 1909..the Missouri Department of Natural Resources & Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society claims it was built by the Presbyterians in 1900, and the Catholics acquired it in 1908.

"Mass was celebrated in Mokane beginning in 1900. Fr. George W. Hoehn, pastor at Starkenburg, Missouri, traveled by train once a month to offer Mass in a room at the Yoest Hotel. Fr. Hoehn was the first priest assigned to St. Jude Thaddues Church when it was built in 1909. The church was formerly established as a mission of St. Peter Church in Fulton in 1910. The basement was hand dug by parishioners in 1947, and the expansion of the Church in 1966 doubled the size of the original building. St. Jude Thaddeus was erected as an independent parish in 1969." ~ St. Jude Thaddeus

"Little is available on the history of the church in readily accessible books or histories. The brief history of Mokane on the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society website mentions that the “Catholic Church bought the church building owned by the Presbyterians in 1908,” but little else was found on the early Presbyterian congregation in Mokane or the Catholic congregation that continues to use the building. That Mokane is located near the historic village of Cote Sans Desseins, where the county’s earliest church, a Catholic congregation, organized. Though the village and church disbanded long before the town of Mokane was established, the roots of the town’s Catholic Church could be in the decedents of the county’s earliest setters.

"The church sits near one of the highest points in town and its original front (now the rear of the building) looks over an small vale leading down to Fulton St. The block on which the church sits is triangular, with the building sitting in the northeast corner surrounded by a grassy lawn. Across the street to the north are residential buildings.

"Originally a frame side steeple church with cross gable roof and stone foundation, the building has been reoriented with a rear addition now acting as the front of the building. The original portion of the building faced west southwest overlooking a slope leading to Fulton Street, Mokane’s main street. The original entrance may have been located in the large corner tower, but modern vinyl siding obscures original features of the tower and original (west) elevation of the building. The west elevation likely contained an entrance or large window, but is now a blank wall due to the installation of modern siding. The eastern elevation (now the “front”) consists of a gable front addition, the gable shorter and at a lower pitch that the original building block. Centered in the elevation are paired doors sheltered beneath a gable front porch roof."
~ Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Rural Churches in Callaway County, PDF page 21

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