Mandan’s Saint Joseph Church was dedicated in November 1904. Depending on the source, the cornerstone was laid in either April or July of that year. Various relics were placed beneath the cornerstone. It cost about forty thousand dollars to construct. Father Danial Collins personally contributed more than thirteen thousand dollars. He was laid to rest inside the church after he died in 1909. Milwaukee architect Anton Dohmen was the church’s architect. Dohmen would design a total of five North Dakota churches, and presented preliminary designs for a Bismarck cathedral that were abandoned due to the Depression. A school and gymnasium were added to the church’s northeast in 1952.
The parish was organized in 1881 and construction commenced that fall for the parish’s first church on the corner of Stark Avenue and Third Street. Stark Avenue is today called Collins Avenue.
