A committed congregation. Dedicated shepherds. A church on the hill. For 125 years the Congregation of St. Mary’s Catholic Church has strived to do God’s work on earth in Neillsville.

The seeds of the Catholic faith were first brought to Clark County in Wisconsin by French fur traders, who came down from Canada before the year 1847. Although we do not know the numbers involved, as late as 1879 an article in the "Clark County Republican" (a forerunner of today’s Clark County Press) advertised that a French Clergyman, the Reverend Charles A. Gunkel, would be available for the "French Congregation" of Neillsville.

Lumberjacks, who converted the great white pine woods into the timber that built Chicago, followed the traders and trappers. After that, came farmers who settled the cut over land around Neillsville. The first pioneers tended to be Methodists (United Methodist Church of Neillsville can trace its development back to 1847) and Presbyterians. There were occasional visits by Catholic missionaries. The Reverend F.H. Etchman, a pioneer priest who organized many of the missions in Northern Wisconsin, was known to make calls in this area as early as 1859.

John "Adolph" Bergmann, who established the Catholic Mission in Neillsville.

It wasn’t until 1876 that the Reverend John "Adolph" Bergmann, an immigrant ordained in Germany, organized a mission church at the residence of Richard Hawkes. There were 50 members. Mass was apparently held at other residences as well.

The unincorporated village of Neillsville had a population of about 1,050 at the time. Neillsville would not become a city until 1882. Clark County was incorporated in 1853.

On June 17, 1876, the Most Reverend Michael Heiss, the first Bishop of La Crosse, purchased two acres of land from Joseph and Mary Furlong in Neillsville "for the erection of a Roman Catholic Church." The land cost $50.

The first actual parish in Clark County was organized in the early 1870’s at Humbird. From 1877 to 1885 the Catholic Mission in Neillsville was attended by a succession of priests based there: Reverend Michael Heiss (the bishop’s nephew), Reverend Lorenz Spitzlberger, the aforementioned Fr. Gunkel and Fr. Bergmann, and finally the Reverend Joseph F. Volz.

Fr. Volz became increasingly important to the fledgling congregation. He was born in Plattsburg, Indiana, in 1857 but his parents moved to La Crosse that same year. So for all intents and purposes, he was a Badger State product. After acquiring a parochial school education, he attended St. John’s College in Prairie du Chien (a now defunct church-affiliated college