In 1856, two years before Minnesota became a state, Fr. Felix Tissot was assigned to the
Goodhue County Missions. The population grew rapidly. In 1860, Fr. Pius Beyers purchased a
two-acre site from H. A. Van Campen where the first church was built. By 1864, the community
needed to expand, and then-Fr. John Ireland set the cornerstone of the Mission Stone Church
with locally quarried limestone.
Following the turbulent years of the Civil War and the U.S.-Dakota War, settlement in the area
was slow, but with time, the community grew. In 1889, Calvary Cemetery was built and in
1894, the foundation for the second church was laid just south of the first church. With time,
the community outgrew that church too, and the present church was completed in 1965. New
additions were built in 1985 and 2013, providing classrooms, office space, and an elevator.