St. Joseph's Catholic Church (Bauer, Iowa)

St. Joseph's Catholic Church is a former parish of the Diocese of Davenport. The church is located in Dallas township in rural Marion County, Iowa, United States. It was part of the now defunct village of Bauer. The closest communities are Melcher-Dallas and Lacona. The church building still stands and together with the adjacent cemetery comprises an historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.HistorySt. Joseph's was founded in 1853 to serve German immigrants in a place in western Marion County called Newbern, or New Bern. The unincorporated village that was built around the church was later called Bauer after the family name of the areas earliest German settlers. The parish was founded in the Diocese of Dubuque during the episcopate of Bishop Mathias Loras. The church building was built in 1876 under the leadership of Bishop John Hennessy. Initially, the parish did not have a resident priest and was served by priests located at St. Patrick’s in Georgetown. Its first two church buildings were log structures that were built on the same property of the present church. The Rev. John Baumann was assigned as the first resident parish priest. The first rectory was built in 1873.