St. Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church

St. Mary of the Annunciation was founded in 1864 by the small German Catholic Community of what is now Fremont Center. German Catholics, most of who came from small Bavarian villages such as Hausen, began arriving in this area in the early 1840s. By 1860, they had reached sufficient numbers to acquire the land on which the first church was built. Lake County land records indicate the existence of a Catholic church on this land as early as 1861; however, it was located about a mile from the present parish site. The parish does not appear in any official Archdiocesan records until 1864. Thus, that year is accepted as the founding date of the parish. The parish grew slowly, and for more than two decades was ministered to by mission priests from other areas. In 1888, the parish received its first resident pastor, Fr. Emmerich Weber, and the following year, the second church, known today as the little church, was built and dedicated. The parish school, which exists to this day, opened in...