The church building is located on the corner of 4th and Court Streets in downtown Ottumwa, Iowa, United States.

[1] St. Mary of the Visitation Parish was established in 1849 when Bishop Mathias Loras of the Diocese of Dubuque sent the Rev.

Jean Villars from St. John the Evangelist in Keokuk to purchase two lots for the church and rectory and a larger piece of land for a cemetery in Louisville, as Ottumwa was known at the time.

Not only was he responsible for Ottumwa and Wapello County, but his territory also covered Jefferson, Van Buren, Keokuk, Mahaska, Polk, Jasper, Marion, Monroe, Davis, Appanoose, Wayne and Decatur Counties.

By the 1920s it was determined the church building was too small for the growing congregation, so plans were made to replace it with the current structure.

On either side of the front doors is a carved fleur-de-lis, a symbol of purity that is used to represent the Blessed Virgin Mary under whose patronage the church is dedicated.

The interior walls are constructed of tannish-brown brick, highlighted by inset carved stone panels.

Large stained glass clerestory windows line the walls of the main nave and depict different saints.

[1] The light fixtures were designed and constructed by the Beardslee Chandelier Company of Chicago, Illinois.

In 1877 the Congregation of the Humility of Mary started a school for boys in the basement and in one other room of the rectory.

In 1890 they purchased the Visitation convent and academy for their motherhouse and were responsible for the education of both the boys and the girls at the parish school.