St. Joseph will Celebrate 100 Years of Ministry

A short history of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church

(From the Crookston Diocese Historical records)

In the early 1900s a cluster of Polish Catholics settled along the former eastern boundary of the Red Lake Indian Reservation. Mr. Alec Janowski was largely responsible for maintaining an influx of settlers into the area opened for homesteading. A priest from Crookston came to the group once or twice a year to celebrate mass and the sacraments in one of the homes.

Beginning in 1916, Father Albert Noesen came monthly as pastor to the pioneering flock. Largely through the efforts of Michael J. Polansky, St. Joseph’s Church was erected in 1920 at the site called Jane, 12 miles east from the present village of Middle River.

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