Mary Immaculate Parish

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Parish History

Mary Immaculate Parish was founded in 1886 as a mission church of St. Mary's of Adair to serve the people who traveled to Kirksville for medical treatment. Father O'Shea, pastor of St. Mary's of Adair, held masses in the Masonic Hall until 1892 when the first permanent facility was built in the Fout and Ellis Addition. The location is recorded as approximately three blocks east of highway 63 on Missouri Street. Father O'Shea attributed the success of the establishment of both the Parish and the church facility to John L. Porter of Kirksville. What is most interesting to the history of Mary Immaculate is that Porter wasn't Catholic! The first church was built for $3,400. A number of gifts, such as a crucifix and a statue of the Sacred Heart, were given to the church by grateful patients of Dr. A.T. Still, but most of these were destroyed during a cyclone on April 27, 1899.

In 1905, a new church at 600 East Washington Street was dedicated by Archbishop Glennona of St. Louis. The second church was destroyed by fire in 1945. Mass was held in Washington School until the present church was built in 1947.

When Mary Immaculate Parish was established, it was part of the St. Louis Diocese. In 1922, the parish was transferred to the Diocese of St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1956, the Diocese of St. Joseph was split and Mary Immaculate was made part of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri.

Although no records have been discovered to explain it, Mary Immaculate has not always been referred to by the same name. Through the years 1939-1948, a number of documents refer to the Parish as Immaculate Conception. However, Diocese correspondence in 1953 indicated that the Parish letterhead referred to the Parish as Mary Immaculate.