St. Patrick’s Catholic Church (Georgetown, Iowa)
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St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church
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| Location | US Highway 34, west of Albia, Iowa |
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| Coordinates | 41°0′48″N 92°57′20″W / 41.01333°N 92.95556°WCoordinates: 41°0′48″N 92°57′20″W / 41.01333°N 92.95556°W |
| Area | 1.7 acres (0.69 ha) |
| Built | 1865 |
| Architect | Rev. Timothy Clifford |
| Architectural style | Vernacular Gothic Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 92000426 |
| Added to NRHP | May 6, 1992 |
St. Patrick’s Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Davenport. The church is located in rural Monroe County, Iowa, United States, on U.S. Route 34, west of Albia, Iowa. It is located in an unincorporated area known as Georgetown and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The area that would come to be known as Georgetown was settled by people of Irish descent from St. Louis, Missouri and Pennsylvania. Many who settled the area came to build the first railroad west of the Des Moines River and they originally named the settlement Staceyville. At the time the entire state of Iowa was part of the Diocese of Dubuque. The Rev. Jean Villars from Keokuk visited the area starting in 1848 and celebrated Mass in people’s homes. In the 1850s the Rev. John Kreckel from St. Mary of the Visitation in Ottumwa started visiting the area monthly until a small log church called St. Gregory’s was built in 1851.
As the community grew, in large part because of Irish immigration, a new church building was needed. They decided to build a mile west, closer to the village of Staceyville. Construction on the new St. Gregory’s Church was begun in 1860 and completed in 1865, the same year the Rev. Bernard P. McMenomy was assigned to the parish. The American Civil War had delayed construction of the church. The church was designed by the Rev. Timothy Clifford and constructed of brick and sandstone in the Gothic Revival style by Carr & Cullen. The sandstone was quarried by hand from Babb’s Quarry a few miles away. The parish became a missionary center in southern Iowa. The pastor visited communities in Afton, Bauer, Chariton, Dutch Settlement, Irish Settlement (Decatur County), Leon, Melrose, Osceola, and Woodburn.
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