St. Boniface Catholic Parish was started in 1887 at West 5th and Main Streets as a church and school. By 1894 there were 128 families on the church roster. In a very short time the congregation within the original building, a simple but elegant wooden structure.
1902 is when the Sioux City Diocese was formed and within 8 years plans were made to build a new St. Boniface church building. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1910 and the church and convent were completed by 1911/1912. The new buildings were designed by Venerable Brother Leonard Darscheid, an able architect and church builder for the Archdiocese.
As the needs of the new church building and school children so did the need for modern heating, maintenance and the need for a new school. In 1923 William L. Steele was commissioned to design a new boiler house and janitors quarters. He is also believed to have designed a new school right around the same time. The school building is on the northern edge of the property. The school was merged with 2 other Catholic schools in Sioux City. The building is now used by the Crittenton Center. The boiler house and janitors quarters is in the middle of the grounds between the church and school buildings.
An interesting side note to this is one of the former Crittenton Center buildings was designed by William L. Steele. That building is now abandoned and it's future is uncertain. Now the Crittenton Center is using another building designed by Steele. The Crittenton Center has other buildings they are using around Sioux City. It is unknown whether or not any others were designed by Steele.
I have seen the blueprints for the boiler house and janitors quarters, but there are none to be found for the school building. The prints have a date of June 14, 1923 and a revision date of July 11, 1923. At the time Rev. Alphonse Bergener was the priest at St. Boniface.
At one time the parish had a convent for nuns as well as a residence for Franciscan priests who resided at and worked for the parish, serving the needs of the community in the surrounding area near the church.
St. Boniface has not gone unscathed by tragedy. In 1992 there was a fire that severely damaged the convent building, as a result it was torn down and that area is no a parking lot on the north side of the church building. Thankfully no one was hurt in the fire.
St Boniface is now a historic district and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. Sioux City as a whole and the Sioux City Diocese is fortunate to have such a beautiful church named as a historic district.
National Register of Historic Places information:
St. Boniface Historic District (added 1998 - District - #98001322)
Also known as St. Boniface Church and Rectory;St. Boniface School
703 W. 5th St., 515 Cook St., 700 W. 6th St., Sioux City
Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Steele, William LaBarthe, Darscheid, Bro. Leonard
Architectural Style: Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Romanesque
Area of Significance: Religion, Architecture
Period of Significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Religion
Historic Sub-function: Church Related Residence, Church School, Religious Structure
Current Function: Religion
Current Sub-function: Church Related Residence, Church School, Religious Structure
Link to historical information about St. Boniface:
Sioux City - St. Boniface
Digital scans of historical information about St. Boniface Catholic Church;
Digital scans of news paper stories of the early history of the Catholic Diocese in Sioux City:
Digtial scans of news paper stories about the new St Boniface Church building;
Digital scans of a news paper story about the fire that damaged the convent and the convent being torn down;
Digital scan of article about St Boniface being added to the National Register of Historic Places;
Photo's of how the church, school, monestary and boiler house/janitors quarters as they look today;
Digital scans are courtesy of Sioux City Catholic Diocese, scans of newspaper articles are courtesy of the Sioux City Public Library, information of what newpapers to find articles on are courtesy of Pearl St. Research Center and the Sioux City Public Museum.
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