[2] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Church of St. Joseph—Catholic in 1985 for its local significance in the themes of architecture, exploration/settlement, and religion.

[4] It has a Gethsemane rock grotto designed by award-winning sculptor Joseph Kiselewski, and a Black Madonna, a traditional Polish cultural object.

[5] Emigrants from the Silesia region of western Poland began settling in the Browerville area in 1870, increasing in pace after a rail line was built through central Todd County in the early 1880s.

An equal number of German immigrants were also settling the area, and the two groups united to establish a Roman Catholic parish in 1884.

This culminated in an 1895 split, with the Polish side retaining the original church and school while the Germans left to build their own religious facility at the opposite end of Browerville's Main Street.