ST. IGNATIUS (1931)

Two Franciscan padres, Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Véllez de Escalante, passed through this area in September 1776, discovering the White River near which Rangely lies. In all probability, these Spanish priests said the first Mass in what is now Rio Blanco County. A trading post was established on the site in the 1880s but did not become a significant town until the Rangely oil and gas field was tapped in 1902. This subterranean "gold mine," still producing in the 1980s, has proved to be far and away the richest petroleum discovery in Colorado.

Not until 1931 did Francis J. Brady, the pastor at Holy Family in Meeker, open the St. Ignatius mission. During the 1940s, Blaise Schumacher, OSB, of Vernal, Utah--the famed "Flying Priest of the Rockies"--flew in two Sundays a month, buzzing the town upon his arrival so that everyone would know it was time for Mass.

Services were held in the home of John Purdy, whose wife, Grace, was the cornerstone of the church. Besides making her home into the rectory, church, and catechetical center, she also took under her roof, at one time or another, the town funeral parlor, the Girl and Boy scouts, library, post office, Red Cross headquarters, and Women's Club.

With the post-World War II oil boom, Rangely began to grow. In 1950, St. Ignatius mission--with about 100 members--had outgrown the Purdy residence and purchased an abandoned grocery store for $1,500, which was paid for by the Catholic Extension Society of Chicago. Archbishop Vehr consecrated the hall on June 21, 1951. Six years later, members moved their church into a somewhat larger building, the Pan American Oil Patch Recreation Hall, and sold their old home to Trinity Lutheran Church.

St. Ignatius's received its first resident pastor, Leo Blach, in 1958. Two Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, Dominican sisters, Margaret Noll and Marlene Neuzerling, helped out, after moving into a trailer near the church in 1982. Since then, parish houses have been built in both Rangely and Meeker for the sisters as well as meetings of the congregation.

When the 1983 oil bust sent Rangely's population tumbling from a peak of about 3,000 to half that number, the sisters stayed on though the pastor, Elbert "Bert" Chilson, moved to Meeker. After Father Chilson left to serve in the Catholic missions in Colombia, South America, Lawrence T. Solan became pastor in 1986. Father Solan lives one week in Rangely and then a week in Meeker, splitting his time between the two parishes.