Saint Francis Xavier Mission (De Pere, Wisconsin)

[1] It was founded in 1671 by Claude Allouez to proselytize the native peoples of the western Great Lakes.

In 1684 a chapel measuring 70'x40' and seating six-hundred was completed under the direction of Father Verboort to serve an expanding Catholic population.

[2] The mission was used as a base of operations by Nicolas Perrot in his explorations of the Upper Midwest in the 1680s.

In 1686 he made a present of a silver ostensorium to the mission which was rediscovered by workmen digging a foundation in 1802.

In 1687 the mission of St. Francis Xavier was destroyed in an Iroquois attack.