St. Peter’s History

St. Peter Catholic Church History

St. Peter’s, the second oldest parish in Indiana, was established in 1818. The first Mass was celebrated at the home of James Montgomery. These early settlers, under the direction of Father Anthony Blanc, built a log church at Black Oak Ridge on the land which Is now the church farm and cemetery. Father Lalumiere is credited with building a hewed-log church as early as 1823, and a frame church completed in 1827. This church was blessed by Bishop Flaget in 1829. The next church, the fourth, was of brick. Father Edward Sorin, who later founded Notre Dame University, was pastor there from the fall of 1841 until November, 1842. Father Bartholomew Piers was ordained in 1847 and appointed pastor of St. Peter’s in the same year. Father Piers soon saw the necessity of a new church, the fifth. He decided to abandon the old site at Black Oak Ridge for one convenient to the proposed town of Montgomery. This site was on the highest point of the Ridge about one-half mile east of Black Oak Ridge. The church was completed in 1869 at a cost of about $8,000. A great part of the work was done by the parishioners themselves. Fr. Piers had the features of the building planned before the work began. With a pen knife he carved out a perfect model of the structure that was to be erected. The church was consecrated on July 18, 1869. The bell tower and steeple were put on the church in 1887 and a line new bell was purchased.

School was first conducted by Charles Rother, a German Immigrant, who received the habit of the Holy Cross Brothers in 1841 taking the name of Brother Joseph. This school was the first parochial school of the Holy Cross Brother’s in the United States. In the winter of 1843, the Sisters of Providence moved to St. Peter’s and taught school in the same log buildings the Brothers had used. In 1885 a substantial two-story frame building was erected. When St. Peter’s moved to the present site a parochial day school was conducted until 1895, staffed by various lay teachers under the direction of Fr. Piers. The Sisters of Providence returned in 1895 and stayed until 1906. A new brick two story school building was constructed in 1906. The school years of 1907-1908 exclusively lay teachers taught. Due to financial and other unknown causes, the parochial schools did not return until the year of 1920 when the Sisters of St. Benedict came and have taught continuously to the present time. In 1932 arrangements were made for the school to become public.  A new modern school was built in 1961, with a construction cost of $194,632.25.

The church dome was regilded in 2018 as the parish celebrated its 200^th Anniversary.

St. Peter’s Pictorial History