St Mary's Church

Story

St. Mary's Catholic Church, also known as St. Mary of the Visitation Church, is a parish church of the Diocese of Davenport which is located at 228 E. Jefferson St. in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The church building and rectory are listed together on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. They were both included as contributing properties in the Jefferson Street Historic District in 2004. The parish's first rectory, which is now a private home, is also listed on the National Register as St. Mary's Rectory. It is located a few blocks to the east of the present church location at 610 E. Jefferson St.HistoryThe first Mass in what is now Iowa City was celebrated by a frontier missionary, the Rev. Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, OP, on December 20, 1840. It was attended by 28 people in a building that doubled as a private home and a hotel owned by Fred Haberstroh. The University of Iowa’s School of Business is currently on that location. The previous day Mazzuchelli had arrived from St. Paul’s Church in Burlington and bought two lots for $2,000 on which the church and rectory stand today.