St. John the Baptist parish was started in 1852 to serve the town's growing German community.

Father Reffe, who had previously been at St Paul's, was assigned as St. John's first pastor.

[3] In 1876 Bishop John Hennessey of Dubuque gave the pastoral care of the parish to the Jesuits.

Those separate operations merged in 1958 with the opening of Notre Dame High School on the city's west side.

[5] In the 1990s a fund drive was held and a new grade school wing was added at Notre Dame.

It was designed by Chicago architect Johann Dillenburg in the Gothic Revival style.

The structure is built on a high basement of rough-hewn stone and the exterior walls are composed of brick.

There is a paired lancet window in each bay that is set within an indented rectangular panel.

The church was built at the top of a high bluff south of the downtown area, which gives the structure prominence.

An arched doorway was cut into the sanctuary wall leading to the chapel and allowing it to be visible from the main body of the church.