Catholic Church Records by
Cumulative Indexes to Munnicks Catholic Church Records
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St. Peter's, The Dalles
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The year 1838 was to see new arrivals in The Dalles, Oregon Country. Rev. Daniel Lee,
Rev. Jason Lee's nephew and his associate H.K. Perkins were appointed to The Dalles in
1838. The winter of 1838 also saw the first Catholic Priest's arrival at Ft. Vancouver.
Father Francois (Francis) Blanchet was one of those priests and he would later become the first Archbishop of Oregon, the second Catholic Archdiocese in
the United States.
On May 16, 1848, the Rev. Rousseau was appointed to the first Catholic Church in The Dalles,
St. Peter. St. Peter's was under the direction of the Diocese of Walla Walla and the Bishop of that Diocese was Augustin Blanchet
the brother of Archbishop Francois Blanchet.
The first church was a log cabin erected in 1848 at what is now Blakeley Way on the original Catholic Mission
land claim just west of the cemetery. The church was lined with mats on the walls and over the dirt floor.
The church burned February 26, 1855 when the matting caught fire from a candle. All of the records of baptisms, marriages and deaths
burned with it.
Rev. Tousant Mesplie started a new record book with the construction of the second church just a short distance
from the original church at what is now 14th and Mission. The second church was made of sawed lumber and had a steeple with a belfry to
call members to services. Father Mesplie's first entry noted that the Parish census was 417 adults and children. Of these,
117 were white and 300 were Indian. He estimated that there had been about 500 baptisms during the first seven years of the parish.
Most of these were presumed to be Indians.
As the Parish and town grew a new wooden church was built, "downtown" at 3rd and Lincoln in 1862 and on March
17, 1898 that structure was replaced by a brick church the present St. Peter's Landmark. The older wooden church was moved to the rear
of the new brick church and later torn down. The picture shown above is of those two churches as they stood before the 1862 church
shown in the rear was torn down. The lumber from the church was taken by scow (barge) to Stevenson, Washington where it was rebuilt.
It may have been used as a church for a few years and then a residence and burned in 1912.
After 71 years of use the brick church was in need of major repairs. The old church would need to be
replaced. The members of the parish didn't want to see the old brick structure torn down and decided to deed it over to someone that
would use it as a Museum. After renovations were completed it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Now owned
and managed by a nonprofit nondenominational organization.
The fifth and present St. Peter's Church was dedicated December 14, 1969 and is located very near the site of the
original log church and next to the original cemetery. The Dalles Catholic Church history had come full circle.
Msgr. William Stone was ordained at St. Peter's in 1943. He was very interested in the history of
St. Peter's and he maintained a lasting friendship with many parishners until his death. We will always be indebted to him for his
desire to see the parish records available for research. At his request St. Peter's records were translated from their original French
Canadian to English by MaryAnn Raasina, a friend. We have used those records, typed and translated by MaryAnn. However, there
are still a few records in the early 1900's in Latin that were not translated into English. We leave those translations to you the
researcher.
I want to thank Bud Sandoz, The Dalles, for his help acquiring the records and his work in preserving the history
of St. Peter's.
When viewing the records you will notice that there is a section called "Combined" records. This section
contains all of the Baptism, Death and Marriage records from 1855 to 1908. In 1908 the separate sacramental registers were started.
Because the records were in French Canadian and translated they were not separated into separate files like in later years.
St. Peter's was the 9th Catholic Church dedicated in Oregon.
Present Day information: St. Peter Parish, Baker Diocese
1222 West 10th St.
The Dalles, OR 97058
Mass Schedule:
Saturday: Side Sanctuary, 8:00 am, Main Sanctuary 5:30 pm
Sunday: English, 9:00 am: Spanish, 12:00 pm
Monday, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Saturday: 8:00 am
Parish Office: (541)296-2026
Very Rev. Todd Unger, Pastor
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