Address: Allen and High St

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Community: Chippewa Falls

Category: Arts + History / Play + Shop

Notre Dame Church is one of Chippewa County’s most historically significant Catholic churches and the mother church of the area’s Catholic parishes. Its story begins with a small log chapel in 1856 and continues with the larger stone church completed in 1872, making it a lasting landmark in Chippewa Falls.

• What it’s about:
  Originally called St. Mary’s, or “Our Lady of the Pines,” the first church was a 16 by 18-foot log structure with a carpenter’s bench serving as the altar. It served a diverse early parish that included Native people, French, Irish, Scots, Poles, Germans, and others who helped shape the area.
• What changed over time:
  Father Charles F. X. Goldsmith arrived in 1869 and helped lead the construction of the new church using native stone from a nearby quarry in present-day Irvine Park. The church was completed in 1872, and the parish later expanded with a school, a memorial chapel, and other additions.
• Why it matters:
  Notre Dame Church reflects the growth of faith, education, and community in early Chippewa Falls. The Memorial Chapel to Father Goldsmith, built in 1894, and the burial of his remains beneath the altar add to the church’s deep historical and spiritual importance.