Time doesn’t stand still here, but it is highly respected. St. Mary’s white frame church built in 1889 is set on land once home to Potawatomi Indians, then German farmers, and is the site for noon Mass on Sundays. (The parish hall accommodates the bulk of today’s 1,450 families.)

A rural past echoes in the little parish cemetery where markers go back to 1876 when the town was called Fremont Center, and in one of the oldest schools in continuous operation in the archdiocese. (A local dairy farmer leases a parish-owned barn on the property.)

St. Mary’s is on the threshold of new life and grace. A unique glass, steel and brick church is rising and will be dedicated in April. The frame church will be preserved and used for small group liturgies and occasional services. It is all part of a long-range plan that promises to preserve as much as possible the rural environment parishioners here love and value.

Pastor: Father Ronald J. Lewinski
Masses: Saturdays 5 p.m., hall/ Sundays 7:30, 9 and 10:30 a.m., hall; noon in church
Seating capacity: 240
Parish founded: 1864
Phone: (847) 223-0010

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