St. Andrew's, the first parish in Bellevue, the third parish to be established in the new Diocese of Dubuque, merged with its daughter parish in the 1870s to form the present St. Joseph Parish. The earlier parish began with English-speaking and French settlers. When the German-speaking members increased sufficiently, they formed their own parish and a foresighted pastor managed to combine the two. The town of Bellevue began when the Iowa Territory was opened to settlement in 1833. The town was a gateway to the upper Mississippi River. At first the parish was a "station" cared for by Fr. Jean Perrodin, the first resident pastor of St. Patrick's in Gerryowen. On Sept. 6, 1841, Bishop Loras purchased a lot for a church and a larger lot for cemetery purposes. The frist church, dedicated to St. Andrew, was a frame structure built upriver in 1842 and floated downstream. Both the church and the lots were gifts from funds provided to Bishop Loras by the Society for the Propogation of the Faith. In 1850 Fr. Frederick Jean became the first pastor. A fire destroyed the small church in 1853 forcing the parish to rent space until 1855, when Fr. Patrick McCabe directed the building of a brick structure for St. Andrew's. By 1869 the German-speaking fortion of the congregation became strong enough to form a society under the patronage of St. Joseph and build a stone church. Fr. Theodore Schiffmacher was appointed pastor, and a few years later the two parishes became one. In 1901 during the pastorate of Fr. Nicholas Bies, a stone tower was added to the church. In 1910 the old stone structure was replaced by the new and much larger church, attached to the same tower. Under Fr. Cletus Hawes, the church was refurbished, an elevator was installed, and a new rectory built. Since 2000 there was air-conditioning put in the church, new builders, new carpeting, and a new sound system. The inside of the church was repainted, handicapped bathrooms were put in Kieffer Hall, and new sidewalks built around the church. Our parish has twinned with San Pierre parish in Haiti where there have been service trips in recent years. St. Joseph parish now has about 800 families. The school continues to serve students of the area parishes.