ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST (1937)

Johnstown was founded in 1902 by Harvey J. Parish, who named it for his seven-year-old son John. Hispanic laborers settled in the area after 1926, when the Great Western Sugar Company built an extraction plant there.

Juan Baca and Juan Trujillo--two of these farm workers--raised $400 in cash and promissory notes to finance a church. They helped persuade the sugar company to donate a site and in 1937 built a humble, $400 church with backless benches for pews. Bishop Vehr dedicated it on June 24, 1938, the feast of St. John the Baptist. The name also honored the two farm workers who spearheaded the project.

Pastors from St. Joseph's in Fort Collins tended the little mission, which primarily served the Hispanic colony working at the sugar refinery and in the fields around Johnstown. In 1974, the growing parish bought the elegant old United Methodist Church, a Gothic gem built in 1884 at the urging of a pioneer Methodist circuit-riding minister, Cora M. Dilley. Originally located at Elwell, it had been moved into Johnstown in 1927. To commemorate the Methodist as well as the Catholic heritage of the church, Bishop George R. Evans concelebrated the dedication with Methodist minister H. Preston Childress.

Today, Thomas D. Kelly's flock at St. John the Baptist's keeps up the church beautifully. Behind two massive elm trees, the large belfry with its huge old black bell and gold cross on top summons the faithful to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday Masses. Father Kelly, an avid gardener, tends the lovely landscaping of both the white frame rectory and the handsome brick church.

Underneath the cool, high-ceilinged nave, a basement hall is used for parish gatherings and catechism classes. Johnstown's predominantly Hispanic congregation still remembers with fondness and appreciation the two dedicated founders named Juan.