Historical Images of Porter County

Catholic Church, Kouts, Ind.
Kouts, Indiana

Date: Circa 1910
Source Type: Postcard
Publisher, Printer, Photographer: Unknown
Postmark: None
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark: The seeds for the construction of the original St. Mary's Catholic Church, church seen, here were planted in 1883 at meeting of local Catholics that raised about $700. A picnic to raise funds for the construction of the church was held on July 24, 1884. Father O'Reilly, from Valparaiso, then purchased the church lots (Lots 3 and 4 in Block 2 of the Wright's Addition) from Hillary A. Wright in September 1885. The church was constructed so that the building could easily be converted into a parochial school house should the congregation grow to significant size. This church was completely destroyed by a tornado on May 26, 1917, and the congregation soon rebuilt an "underground church" or "basement church." During the rebuilding, a church rectory was built in the adjacent lot. In 1926, the present church was constructed over the old basement church.

Return to Kouts Churches Images Index
Return to Porter County Photographs & Historical Images

Please contact the Porter County GenWeb Coordinator if
you can provide any additional information concerning this image.

Image and related text prepared by Steven R. Shook