St. Lawrence Catholic Church is a parish of the

Archdiocese of Dubuque The Archdiocese of Dubuque ( la, Archidiœcesis Dubuquensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. It includes all the Iowa counti ...

. It is located in rural

Jackson County, Iowa Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,485. The county seat is Maquoketa. History The county was formed on December 21, 1837, and named after US President Andrew Jackson. In ...

, United States, in Otter Creek Township. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1992. The parish's first church building was a small stone structure completed in 1866. It soon became too small and a frame Methodist Church nearby was bought to house the growing congregation. The present church building, completed in 1883, was designed by

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

architect

Fridolin Heer Fridolin Heer (July 30, 1834 – September 19, 1910) was a Swiss-born and trained architect who immigrated to the United States in 1864 and set up a practice in Dubuque, Iowa shortly thereafter. He was joined in his practice by his son, Fridolin ...

. It is constructed in

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. The rectangular structure measures roughly with a projecting tower on the main facade. with The tower is capped by an octagon-shaped belfry and

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

. There is a Gothic arched window in the tower above the main entrance and in each of the six

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

on the sides. The main facade is the south elevation and on the opposite side of the church is a

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

References

Religious organizations established in 1854 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1883 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque Gothic Revival church buildings in Iowa Churches in Jackson County, Iowa Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Jackson County, Iowa 1854 establishments in Iowa {{Iowa-church-stub