Many a town prospered as the railroad snaked its way West to the Pacific Ocean. Stitching together the two halves of our continent, the iron rails led many a young man to a destiny he might not otherwise have known.

Such was the case with the young Catholic men who settled in Grinnell when the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company ran headlong into financial difficulties in 1863, stranding its workers in this quaint hamlet.

Predominantly Protestant, there was no Catholic church in Grinnell in which these young men could worship. Mass was held in individual homes by visiting priests. It is said the first Mass in Grinnell was held in the railroad trackside home of John Smith, sometime in the year 1864. Many a 'circuit' priest made his way to Grinnell to celebrate the Mass, but the Faithful dreamed of having their own Church and in the Spring of 1883, Father John Kempker would become the driving force behind the building of a permanent house of worship.

That church, which Fr. Kempker designed, was christened St. Columbanus in November of 1883 and was located on the Southwest corner of Washington Avenue and Main Street. At the time, there were twenty-five families of the parish.

In January of 1913, Father Maurice J. Hannon became Grinnell's first resident pastor. By then, the parish family numbered forty staunch families and was growing. Fr. Hannon saw a need for a new and larger church and once more, the dreaming began: he started a building fund.

On July 22, 1919, John Ford entered into a contract to purchase a corner lot located at Broad Street and Fifth Avenue; but it was not until 1926 that an architect, John Normile, and a builder, Nettcott Brothers, were hired to begin building the dream that would come to be known as St. Mary's Catholic Church.

The dedication of St. Mary's was on February 22, 1927 with the Very Rev. F.J. Leonard officiating.

Over the years, St. Mary's has changed: