St. Joseph Catholic Church at 218 10th St. S, Moorhead, MN 56560 US - Parish History
The arrival of the railroad in 1871 brought a flood of settlers into the Red River Valley’s twin communities of Moorhead and Fargo. In that time, Moorhead was a town of about 800 people and Catholics here were served at intervals by traveling missionaries, beginning in 1868 with Bishop Louis LaFleche from Three Rivers, Quebec.
The priest who started St. Joseph's Parish was Rev. Jean Baptiste Genin, who secured three town lots in Moorhead and built a humble frame church, 56 by 20 feet, in 1873. St. Joseph’s Church served Catholics from either side of the river until Fargo established its own parish two years later. The first resident pastor of St. Joseph’s was Fr. J.A. McGlone, who arrived in 1878.
In 1880, the Sisters of St. Benedict, from St. Joseph, MN, opened a parochial school. The first school was a combination school and dwelling for the sisters, who taught about sixty students in the first year. In March of 1883, the Benedictine Fathers of St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, MN, assumed charge of St. Joseph's. One of the first Benedictine Fathers to become pastor of St. Joseph's was Rev. Augustine 
Brockmeyer, O.S.B.
In 1891 Fr. Augustine secured the remaining four lots along 4th St. N. and 2nd. Ave to build the new brick-veneered church, 38 by 92 feet, which was dedicated in 1892 by Most. Rev. John Shanley, bishop of Fargo. A year later a brick-veneered six-room schoolhouse was built.
St. Joseph’s had some of the earliest service organizations, with the Ladies Guild and the Christian Mothers both founded in 1904. All women belonged to the first, which emphasized direct service, such as funeral lunches, parish banquets and bazaars. The Christian Mothers focused on spiritual works in the parish and had open membership.
In the 1920's, St. Joseph's Parish numbered 150 families, with 145 children in school. More and more, the need for a new church became apparent. A building fund was begun in 1923 with a $20,000 bequest from a parishioner. After about three years, the fund was deemed 
large enough and so the property on 4th St. N. was sold. Building began on the current parish campus, comprised of two lots donated by another parishioner. The new combination church and school building (currently St. Joseph's School) was 60 by 144 feet, had classrooms on the first floor and an auditorium seating 650 people on the secon
d floor. The rectory (currently the parish office) and the sisters' convent (currently the rectory) were also built at the same time. The new parish campus was completed in August of 1927. In 1929, the Benedictine Sisters of Crookston took charge of the school.
St. Joseph’s Parish was the first in the diocese, if not in the upper Midwest, to open a migrant school for Mexican-American children. Started in 1941 as a day school, the parish soon converted classrooms into dormitories to house 100 students during the summer. The Crookston Benedictine Sisters taught not only religion, but reading and English courses. Spanish-speaking priests from Collegeville and seminarians also served at Moorhead.
Rev. Elmer Eisenschenck, O.S.B., came to St. Joseph's in 1943 and dreamed of building a new church. Fr. Eisenschenck began a new building fund and, after nine years, felt the parish was ready to build. St. Joseph’s Parish was divided in 1948 to create St. Francis de Sales Parish on Moorhead’s north side. At that time, St. Joseph's had more than quadrupled in size since the building of the church/school in 1927, totaling about 650 
registered families with over 300 children in school. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the present church took place on June 22nd, 1952. The church was blessed on July 25th, 1954 and was the first Catholic stone church in the diocese of Crookston.
By 1958, the number of students at St. Joseph's School had 
skyrocketed to 483. It would reach its peak enrollment of 500 students in the early 1960’s. A building fund campaign in those years aimed to raise money for a remodeling and expansion project in the crowded school. It called for the modernization of the eight existing classrooms and construction of six new classrooms on the second floor where the church/auditorium used to be. Also significant was the construction of the gymnasium.
Vatican II changes in church during the 1960’s included ministries like the formation of a parish council, which was first established at St. Joseph’s in 1969. Expansion of religious education also flourished with the establishment of a parish board of education.
St. Joseph’s Benedictine pastors had been assigned from St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, until 1977 when it reverted to diocesan care. Fr. Donald Krebs was the first diocesan priest to pastor St. Joseph’s in 1977, followed by Monsignor John Stearns in 1981. Monsignor Krebs returned in 1991 for his second tenure at St. Joseph’s. St. Joseph’s current pastor, Msgr. Mike Foltz, became pastor in 1999.
It was in 1994 that St. Joseph's embarked on the Forward in Faith campaign. The project's main purpose was the construction of a new community center, The Gathering Place, in addition to updates and renovations in the school, such as the addition of an elevator.
About seven years after addition of The Gathering Place, plans began to take shape for a large-scale renovation of the church, the first of its kind to be undertaken in the nearly fifty years since its construction. General items to be included in the project were: repairing the roof and upgrading the heating system; reorganizing the sanctuary/choir area; redecorating the church; updating the lighting; replacing the sound system; expanding the east wing of the church and adding a west wing; replacing the pews and refurbishing the pipe organ. Construction for the campus improvement project began in May of 2004 and the dedication of the church took place on March 18th, 2005.
Today St. Joseph’s School is jointly operated by the parishes of St. Francis de Sales and St. Joseph’s in Moorhead. Much sadness is still felt today at the closing of St. Francis de Sales School and the loss of 7th & 8th grade at St. Joseph’s in 1989. Yet recently, a parent-led movement, begun in the fall of 2006, desired to once again offer 7th and 8th grade. In the fall of 2007, the first 7th grade class returned to St. Joseph’s, nearly two decades after it was discontinued and 8th grade opened up once again in the fall of 2008. The exciting growth of St. Joseph’s resulted in a new expansion of both the school and parish facilities, a project entitled “A Future Full of Hope,” which was completed in the spring of 2009.
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