Bishop John Ireland was noticing the development of the southwestern Minnesota prairie land in the late 1870s.

He directed Mayor Ben Thompson to scout out sites in the area.

In 1877, the bishop established a new parish in Adrian, which at the time had only three houses, two stores, one hotel, a wayside station, and only one practicing Catholic.

The new parish was presided over by Father C. J. Knauf and named after Saint Adrian the warrior.

$30,000 was raised toward the cost of a new church, whose cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1900.