St. Peter's Catholic Church (1872)

German Catholic parish of the southeast side · organized 1871, established 1872 · 518 East DeWald Street · active, November 2026

Founding: In the summer of 1871 the German- and French-speaking Catholics southeast of downtown met under Peter Mettler and won Bishop Joseph Dwenger's approval for a parish of their own — the city's fourth, and its third German-speaking one. The parish dates its establishment to 1872; one strand of the diocesan history gives the founding to 1871, the year of the organization. Its first pastor was Father John Wemhoff, who died on 1 December 1880.

Building line: The first building was a combination church and school, brick, two stories, facing St. Martin Street: cornerstone laid in the summer of 1872, built for about $12,000, and dedicated in the last days of that year — the parish tradition gives 27 December 1872, Blanchard's diocesan history 29 December. The present church, which gave the neighborhood its name of St. Peter's Square, is a Gothic Revival building 184 feet long and 75 wide with a 207-foot steeple, seating 1,100, built for about $70,000 to the design of architect Peter Dederichs Jr. by builder John Suelzer Sr. The records conflict on its dates as they do on the first church's: the National Register nomination and the parish's anniversary accounts put the start of construction in 1892, Blanchard in 1893, and the dedication in October 1894 in Blanchard against 4 November 1894 in the diocesan newspaper's sesquicentennial account. The school followed in 1904 and 1914–15, and the rectory, the Suelzer House, in 1911.

Present state: Active, and a landmark: St. Peter's Square — church, school, boiler house, and rectory between Warsaw and Hanna Streets — was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 20 March 1991. The parish celebrated its sesquicentennial on 8 January 2023 under its motto, "Splendor of the Southside"; its bulletins of 2025 name Father Bartholomew Okorie as pastor.

Sources:

1. Blanchard, History of the Catholic Church in Indiana (1898), St. Peter's sketch, read first-hand.
2. National Register of Historic Places, St. Peter's Square Historic District nomination (listed 20 March 1991, ref. 91000259): architect Peter Dederichs Jr., builder John Suelzer Sr., dimensions and building dates.
3. Today's Catholic, sesquicentennial account of St. Peter's (dedication 4 November 1894).
4. Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana, church list: "St. Peter's Catholic Church, Wayne Township, 1872, active."
5. St. Peter's parish bulletins, 2025 (present pastor).