In 1889, Catholic life in the northwestern part of North Dakota was barely existent. The main town was Minot, a boomtown that grew up when the Great Northern Railroad has to build a trestle over the Souris River valley at that point. It was called the “Magic City” because tents went up so quickly. In 1887, Minot had 5,000 people, most of them itinerant construction workers and those who exploit them: gamblers, prostitutes and sharp-dealers of all sorts. Add to this the fact that Minot was ideal for smuggling, due to its proximity to the Canadian border, and it all added up to the most lawless settlement in the region.

The best the Church could do for Minot at this time was to send out a mission priest from Devils Lake, far to the east. He gathered up a congregation by walking around town ringing a little bell. Immediately after Mass, a gambler was killed in a fight – an omen of the Church’s early history in Minot.
In 1888, some Minot promoters convinced Bishop Marty to send a resident priest. Fr. McCabe, an easterner and doctor of theology, came out to try the romantic western life. After his first sermon aimed at Minot’s moral decadence, McCabe was visited by an anxious parish delegation. The priest packed up and left. Young Bernard Hens was the next priest sent to Minot, but he was dead of typhoid in a month. Fr. Vincent Wehrle, O.S.B., came from Devils Lake to bury him and also to take pastoral responsibility.

According to Wehrle’s memoirs, he got this response from the trustees when he asked to see the parish books: “Fr. Vincent, more able men that you have tried it here and could not make it a success; how much less can you succeed?” These two scoundrels, Judge Rourke and Postmaster McNamara, had good reason to guard the books. Later both of them had to flee the state to avoid prison, as did another parishioner who held the money collected for a new church. Never the less, Fr. Vincent was able to build St. Leo’s Church in 1889, thus serving notice that he was a survivor and a man to be reckoned with.

In 1901, Fr. Joseph J. Raith arrived at St. Leo’s, and he proved to be the beginning of an extraordinary period in which the parish had only three pastors in 81 years. Fr. Raith soon embarked on a church building project that had the whole town shaking their heads. By 1908, downtown Minot had a handsome red brick church with lofty towers and enough seats for the whole parish. At the dedication, Bishop Shanley of Fargo remarked that he had dedicated 29 churches that year, but that St. Leo’s was by far the best!

In 1923, Fr. John W. Hogan came to Minot immediately after ordination to assist Fr. Raith. Like Fr. Raith, Fr. Hogan spent his entire priestly career of 36 years at St. Leo’s. In 1926, St. Leo’s School was built. Fr. Hogan was the principal and then superintendent, presiding over the High School for its entire 29-year history. In 1951, there were 484 students enrolled in St. Leo’s Elementary and High School.

In 1959, Fr. Albert Leary was assigned to St. Leo’s as interim pastor. Among his accomplishments during his one-month assignment was a detailed and scholarly 13-page guide to the stained glass windows of the church. He defined what stained glass is, its purpose and development, and its religious role in the late 18th century and continuing into the 19th.

St. Leo’s next pastor was Fr. Francis J. McKanna, who was the pastor from 1959 to 1980. Fr. McKanna guided the parish through the Second Vatican Council and the restoration of the church after the fire of 1966. There was never any doubt with the parishioners, from the time Fr. McKanna arrived at St. Leo’s, of who was in charge there. Beyond maintaining control over the parish and its members and administering both to their spiritual and temporal needs, he sought to maintain control over any event in which he was involved. Fr. McKanna is also responsible for the slogan “St. Leo’s Parish, where to be a member is an honor and a privilege.”

In 1980, Fr. Marvin Klemmer came to St. Leo’s, succeeding Fr. McKanna. Not long after he came, Fr. Klemmer sought to install a new speaker system in the church and an access facility for the handicapped, calling them “Project Voice” and “Project Lift.” The next year, 1984, Fr. Klemmer embarked on a church remodeling project that became a $250,000.00 project. Upon completion, though, many positive comments were heard and additional sense of pride was restored in the church basement and in the facilities for the many events staged there. Work was done first in the church basement, and when that was finished, parishioners attended Mass there while work continued upstairs.

In 1988, Fr. Chris B. Walter came to St. Leo’s. Under his insightful leadership, St. Leo’s St. Leo’s purchased the old “Minot Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat” building, which is now St. Leo’s Child Care Center. The Child Care Center is licensed for up to 79 children, and is usually full and busy. In 2001, St. Leo’s purchased the former YMCA building. That building is now St. Leo’s Community Center, which houses the church offices. The Community Center is open to the public and boasts of an exercise track, weight room, gym, racquetball courts, pool tables, conference rooms and much more. The children from St. Leo’s School and Child Care Center love to come and run off excess energy at the Community Center.