St. Felix Church, Wabasha, MN - before and after

From Mr. Kuhl:

I was reading your comments about St. Felix in Wabasha and noticed in some recent interior pictures of the church how devoid of detail the walls are.  Bare and boring.

 

Well, I found an interior picture from 1913 that shows how great the church once looked.  The picture is not the best but you can see the amount of beautiful detail it once had.

St. Felix Church, Wabasha, MN - 1913

St. Felix Church, Wabasha, MN, 2011

Also, see the history (from 1920) about the church below:

 

St. Felix Parish of the Roman Catholic Church at Wabasha, with its various religious, educational and philanthropic activities, dates back to 1842, and is therefore one of the oldest church organizations in the Northwest. 

In 1842 the Rev. Augustin Ravoux, of St. Paul, sent a log building from Mendota to this place to be used as a chapel for worship. It was placed upon a raft and floated down the river, and after reaching Wabasha it was put up on the ground of what was called "The Point," which is now the terminus of Main street, north.  As there was no settled pastor of the flock, services were very irregular, and the building was finally used for secular purposes. The first printing press of the town was set up in it, and the first paper printed in the county issued therefrom. A school was also taught in it for a time, but finally the old church fell into decay, all traces of it having long since been obliterated.

The brick church erected in 1874, after an existence of nearly 20 years, was completely destroyed by fire, and in 1893 was rebuilt with improvements.  Father Wurst also built the present rectory, enlarged and beautified St. Felix cemetery, and after strenuous efforts succeeded in having the State Sanitarium located in Wabasha ~ an act of public spirit appreciated by all the citizens irrespective of creed. For this work of development and upbuilding he was especially fitted by his thorough and extensive knowledge, both of civil and ecclesiastical law, and in a good cause he spared no efforts. His activities in building up the parish attracted wide attention and drew many settlers to Wabasha and the surrounding country.

more details at Rootsweb 

CatholicTownMN; Catholic peasants of the area had erected a convent, school, and hospital.   


By they way, you might have heard of Wabasha, MN as it's claim to fame is having Grumpy Old Men filmed in the city.