You may have noticed, but our country recently celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. The annual celebration of all things Irish reminded me of the story of a small community of Irish immigrants in northeast Iowa.

Immaculate Conception Church; Wexford, Iowa

In 1850, the Reverend Thomas Hore organized a group of 450 emigrants from Ireland to escape the Great Famine. After reaching the US, they traveled from New Orleans up the Mississippi River to Arkansas, where many stayed to join small Irish communities in the area, while others continued north to St. Louis with Father Hore. In the spring of 1851, eighteen of those families settled in Allamakee County in a bowl-shaped valley along Wexford Creek. The group built a couple of small churches before the current Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (1416 Great River Rd.; 563.586.2150) was completed in 1870. This simple country church is simply beautiful and worth a visit.

For more about Wexford and its neighbors, check out the Lansing to LeClaire guide book, available in print form or as a PDF download.

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