Prairie City Catholic Mission
SE4 5-15-20

Prairie City Catholic Mission
SE4 5-15-20

A Catholic mission was established in 1857 to serve the French and Irish Catholics of Prairie City. Father Ivo Schact of Lawrence built a small church on the crest of Liberty Hill in 1859. Later Father Swembergh, who was sent to Prairie City in 1869, built a stone parochial residence adjoining the church. For a short time, a small Catholic school was held in the residence. When a new frame church was constructed in Media (West Baldwin) in 1893 (SeeB84), this property was sold and the church abandoned.

Two stone ruins, ashlar rubble masonry, rectangular forms with low stone walls and foundations--20 X 30 N and 18 X 34 S.

Dale Nimz,photographer

Baldwin City Public Library

Fall 1988

Douglas County Historic Building Survey (1977)
Liteer, "Along the Road to Nowhere" (1988)

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English