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Organized from 1908; first church the Baptists' former building, dedicated 17 October 1915; chapel-school on Grove Street 1917; present church at Mishawaka Avenue and Ann, completed 2 October 1927; 222 W. Mishawaka Avenue
The founding: St. Monica's is the daughter of St. Joseph's and of the river. The Catholics of Mishawaka's north side, across the St. Joseph River from the mother parish, voted to pursue a parish of their own at a meeting at St. Joseph's school on 4 October 1908. In September 1915 they bought the First Baptist Church's building and parsonage at 108-116 West Mishawaka Avenue — a site with its own layered record, for the ground had held Sorin's Holy Angels Academy in the 1850s and the Baptists' church from 1868 — and the remodeled church was dedicated on 17 October 1915. About 150 families transferred from St. Joseph's under the north-side rule. The parish sold the old Baptist building on to the Mishawaka Furniture Company's owners in 1921, on the genealogical timeline's record.
Grove Street and the present church: The parish's permanent ground was bought on Grove Street on 15 April 1916, and its chapel-school there was dedicated on 13 May 1917 — the building that let the parish sell the old church in 1921 without losing its seat. The present church, at Mishawaka Avenue and Ann Street, was completed on 2 October 1927. A school addition followed in 1954, and a gymnasium and parish-center groundbreaking came in March 1996. The parish stands active at 222 West Mishawaka Avenue, with its own site and bulletins current in November 2026 — Sunday Masses at 7:00, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., a weekday Mass at 8:15, and a daily rosary at 7:40 a.m., on the parish's published schedule.
Sources:
- Ed Chamberlin, Mishawaka church-history timeline, South Bend Area Genealogical Society, 2016.
- St. Monica parish's own site and bulletins (stmonicamish.org), current November 2026.
- Peter J. De Kever, Mishawaka: A History, commissioned by the City of Mishawaka.