Polish immigrants arrived in the area in the late 1870s, and petitioned the bishop for a church in 1880, preceding the establishment of the town.

[2] The arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad spurred the village's growth, leading to the need for a new church.

A. Czech, O.F.M., on land donated by Frank and Sophia Paprocki, originally of Tarnov, Poland (then part of Austrian Galicia).

[2] The cost of $17,000 had been held down by the contribution of unskilled labor by parishioners, as well as through the use of brick and lumber from the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha, delivered by train.

[4][3] Limestone for the foundation was transported from a quarry near Florence, Kansas, and sand was brought in from the Loup River, 20 miles to the south.