St. John the Baptist parish was established in 1856 and a log cabin church was built in 1863 to serve the largely French speaking population that had settled near the conflux of the Crow and Mississippi Rivers. As the city of Dayton developed, the current church site approximately two miles north of the original site was started and parishioners under the direction of Fr. C.A. Pettigrew built a second shortlived church, a new cemetery, a rectory, and the current parish church between 1902 and 1934. In 1949, the longest serving pastor, Fr. J.H. Guillemette, heavily renovated the interior of the church, dividing it in half to accommodate a school, which operated from 1948 to 1969. The parish continues to serve the communities of Dayton, Ostego, and Champlin in a number of ways from substantial parishioner involvement in local food shelves to the parish festival.
