Many a stone mason has felt a deep love for constructing wonderful buildings and monuments

made of stones that may last for centuries. The quarrymen split or cut the stones at the quarry,

forming rough blocks that are moved to a construction site. Rock cutting is traditionally done

with physical labor using specialized tools to slice blocks along the natural grains in the rock.

Northeast Iowa features several limestone quarries near the location of the limestone church. The

nearest limestone quarry is just half a mile away.

The whole community helped in loading and moving the building stones for the church. The

rough-cut stones were piled and heaped onto wagons and hauled back to the construction site

using big draft horses. The Wexford Register gives credit to the following parishioners for

having hauled at least eight loads of rock: Flor. Bohrer, Mr. Brady, Mr. Brennan, Ph. Byrne, Mr.

Cooney, Pat Crowe, Mr. Doyle, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Healy, Mr. Heatly, Mich. Howe, Mich Keenan,

Mr. Kelly, Pat Kiernan (Kernan), Mr. Lamb, Mr. Mooney, Dan Murphy, John Ryan, Mr. Stafford,

and Mich. Thorton.

The actual construction of the church did not begin until Father Mathias Hannon said a prayer

and blessed the ground above the site where the church would rest. Before the wall construction

started, Sawyer and banker masons used saws and tools to cut and form the stone into the correct

size and shape for the building. The cut blocks looked like a large jigsaw puzzle that with care

and careful placement produced a church for fellowship and prayer.

The main binding material that holds the limestone blocks in place is mortar consisting of (1)

part lime to (3) parts sand mixed in water. When the lime, sand, and water are mixed, a very

plastic-like and creamy paste of putty is formed that can be applied beneath and between the

limestone blocks. Before the wall construction started, a layer of mortar was placed below the

first row of stones.

The lime for the construction was made on-site by heating clamshells and limestone pieces to

high temperatures, driving off the carbon dioxide. As the mortar sets or hardens, a carbonization

process occurs converting the lime back into hardened calcium carbonate. This occurs when lime

takes carbon dioxide from the air and solidifies. Since lime mortar is slightly water soluble,

moisture can be used to reseal any hairline cracks generated during the hardening process.

Another advantage of lime mortar is that it is soft and porous, resulting in little change in volume

and size during temperature changes.

Under the direction of John Doyle, the initial boundaries for the location of the first row of

blocks were marked off and a layer of mortar was laid down. The edges of the rough limestone

blocks from the quarry were smoothed and formed using specialized saws, hammers, and chisels.

Stonemasons used wedges, plum lines, and levers to set the stones in a straight line and hammer

them into place with wooden mallets. When the first row was completed, the process was

repeated alternating layers of stone and mortar, while building up the walls. As the walls grew,

supporting wedges were removed and mortar was used to fill in the gaps. A sharp tool “the tuck

pointer” was used to smooth and even out surfaces of the mortar around the rock blocks. Wooden

framing was placed in spots that would be used for the windows and doors.

A total community atmosphere was part of the construction process for the church with each

family volunteering and taking turns preparing meals and bringing water and drinks to the

workers. This was the community’s new place of worship, and everyone wanted to be involved

in the building process for the new church.

Like onto the time when the church was first built, faith in God and love for the neighbors still

reverberates through the hills and valleys of Wexford. Mode of transportation has changed over

the years from horses and horse-and-buggy on dirt roads to automobiles on cement and black-

topped roads.

Please stand by, as the story continues next month on the construction of the limestone church.