2429 Jasper Avenue, Muscatine

ST. MALACHY'S OF ARDON PRESERVATION SOCIETY Seventy-Six Township, Muscatine County, Iowa

St. Malachy’s of Ardon Preservation Society

The vision of this non-profit corporation is as follows:


* To maintain the church building and grounds as a community historical landmark
* To make the building useful to the surrounding community, i.e.: theater, lecture facility, meeting place
* To restore the building to some point in its architectural history, i.e.: raise the steeple, uncover frescos


To become a member of the St. Malachy’s Preservation Association please contact
Claudia Putnam at 2463 Jasper Ave, Letts, IA 52754 Email address: dacputnam@yahoo.com


For inquiries regarding St. Malachy's records of baptism, confirmation, marriage and funerals, please contact:
St. Joseph Parish, Office Secretary
815 Second St., Columbus Junction, IA 52738-1205

Cemetery Records

Preservation Association Special Events

History of St. Malachy’s Church of Ardon, Iowa
Source: “St. Malachy’s Church of Ardon, Iowa, Cookbook, 1988”
Printed by Jumbo Jack’s Cookbook Co. P.O. Box 247, Audubon, Iowa

In the late 1840’s and early 1850’s, a number of Irish Catholic families, driven from Ireland by the potato famine, settled near relatives and acquaintances in 76 Township in Muscatine County, Iowa.

These immigrants and other Catholic families in the area established the parish of St. Malachy’s of Ardon in 1856, a brick church built 1 ½ miles west of the village of Ardon on present day X-43 north of the existing 76 township hall. Bartholomew Cashman donated one acre of land for the structure with the construction done mainly by the parishioners, the brick being fired in a kiln ¼ mile north of the church. Ten acres of timber land across the road were given by the Thomas Kelly family for fuel. The new church was named after a twelfth century Bishop of Ireland, St. Malachy. Because of the shortage of priests in this area, Bishop Loras of the Diocese of Dubuque (the Davenport diocese was created in 1881) designated St. Malachy’s an out-mission to be served when a priest was available.

The first assignment was from St. James Church in Washington, Iowa, with Father William Purcell riding horseback the 35 miles on the last weekend of the month and staying at the Cashman log cabin. The priest would baptize infants, perform weddings, have Sunday Mass, then head back to Washington.

In 1860 St. Malachy’s was served by Father Phillip Laurent from St. Mathias in Muscatine with services still only once a month. Later in the same century (1882), responsibility was given to St. Mary’s Church in Nichols.

Because of overflowing attendance, in 1902 it was decided to build a new frame church, with a tall steeple to be seen for miles, on a rise of land ½ west of Ardon where the Milwaukee tracks intersected the gravel road leading to St. Malachy’s cemetery. (The cemetery was started in 1850 with the burial of James O’Brien on land donated by the John Byrne family). Such was the sharing spirit at the time, that many non-Catholics contributed to the building fund with Isaac Lee donating the acre of land for the church site.

The new church continued to be served by the priests from Nichols until 1920 when it was assigned to St. Mathias again. In 1930 responsibility was transferred to St. Mary’s at Wilton and remained there until 1968 when Father Lenoch, principal of Hayes Catholic High School in Muscatine, conducted services.

By June of 1969 St. Malachy’s was ministered to by priests from St. Mary’s in Muscatine until mid 1972 when the parish was again assigned to St. Mary’s of Nichols under the care of Father Sullivan who had St. Joseph’s in Columbus Junction also.

This alignment continued, even though the Nichols pastor’s residence was moved from Nichols to Columbus Junction, until August of 1988. During this period, Father Farrell from St. Ambrose College served in the spring and summer of 1987. A realignment of parishes in the fall of 1988 brought St. Mary’s of Wapello to our group of three churches with St. Mary’s of Nichols re-assigned to the priest at Lone Tree.

Over the years, the appearances of St. Malachy’s has been altered as weather and time took their toll. The stable for horses no longer sets across the road and two stained glass windows high in the tower are gone, but a side door has been added. In 1918 a choir loft was built and in 1927 the present cement steps and porch replaced narrow wooden steps, Later, the ceiling frescoes’ were covered over and in the 1940’s Miss Bride Coady paid for the installation of electricity. In the early 1950’s the old wood and coal burning furnace was replaced with an oil burner.

In 1952, the present interior was completed and later the round, stained window behind the altar was removed. The grounds were landscaped with trees in 1982 and the windows protected from vandals and the elements with clear Lexan in 1984. The trains that interrupted many a Sunday service and thrilled the children in summer Bible school finally ceased and the high wooden bridge spanning the tracks was removed in 1984.

During this period the cemetery was improved also by the donation of a wrought iron front fence in 1952 by Miss Bride Coady. In 1983 a heavy duty panel fence surrounding the graveyard was installed.

Father Steve Ebel celebrated Mass weekly at St. Malachy’s of Ardon in a setting the 1902 parishioners would be comfortable with, as the original pews, statues, altars and railing, and stained glass windows are intact. In 1981 the old brick church was torn down.

St. Malachy’s parish was suppressed June 29, 1991 by the Bishop of Davenport due to a severe shortage of priests in the diocese. A non-profit corporation (St. Malachy’s of Ardon Preservation Society) was formed in June of 1991, to take ownership of the building, contents and grounds.

PASTOR	YEARS SERVED	SERVED FROM
Rev. William Purcell	1856-1860	Served from Washington (Monthly)
Rev. Philip Laurent	1860-1882	Muscatine St. Mathias (Monthly)
Rev. William Purcell	1882-1889	Nichols
Rev. Robert Nolan	1890-1901	Nichols
Rev. Michael Nolan	1901-1905	Nichols
Rev. Bernard Fitzsimmons	1905-1913	Nichols
Rev. James O’Neil	1914-1916	Nichols
Rev. Maurice Kissane	1917-1919	Nichols
Rev. Timothy Leahy	1920-1925	St. Mathias
Rev. Edward Cone	1924-?	St. Mathias
Rev. Paul Moore	1925-?	St. Mathias
Rev. Charles VanWaus	1926	Buffalo
Rev. Jacob Schoenfelder	192?-?	Wilton
Rev. John Cash	19?-?	Wilton
Rev. James Brady	193?-1939	Wilton
Rev. Benjamin Barnes	1939	Wilton
Rev. Richard Egan	1939-1943	Wilton
Rev. Edward O’Hair	1943-?	Wilton
Rev. John McEniry		assisted from St. Ambrose Academy, Davenport
Rev. Anthony Conrad		assisted from Assumption High School, Davenport
Rev. Vincent Morrissey	1958-?	Wilton
Rev. William Wiebler		assisted from Assumption High School, Davenport
Rev. Marvin Eldred		assisted from Assumption High School, Davenport
Rev. Francis Lenoch	1968-1969	Principal of Hayes Catholic High School, Muscatine
Rev. Carl Clems	1969-?	Muscatine, St. Mary’s
Rev. William Meyers		Muscatine, St. Mary’s
Rev. Thomas Buechele	?-1972	Muscatine, St. Mary’s
Rev. William Sullivan	1972-1979	Nichols
Rev. Walter Helms	1979-1985	Nichols
Rev. Theodore Borger	1985-1987	Nichols then Columbus Junction
Rev. Anthony Farrell	1987	St. Ambrose College, Davenport
Rev. Stephen Ebel	1987-1991	Columbus Junction

Page updated May 4, 2024

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