Leo and Margaret Worland moved from Scott County, Kentucky in 1826, thus becoming the first Catholic family in the area. Others soon followed. The very first Mass offered in Shelby County was celebrated in the fall of 1828 by Rev. George Elder, pastor of the St. Pius Church the Worlands had left in Kentucky.

In August, 1837 Rt. Rev. Simon Brute, first bishop of the newly created Vincennes diocese, decided that the Catholic congregation of this area had swelled sufficiently to merit its own resident priest. Things developed swiftly. By Sept. 6, 1838, a contract had been signed to build a church for $619.00 on two acres of land donated by Thomas Worland. It was “home” for about 100 farm-dwelling Catholics. 

According to an 1883 account, Fr. Vincent Bacquelin, the first pastor was returning home from house calls on horseback when his horse was attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets. The horse bolted, throwing Fr. Bacquelin against a beech tree hitting his head. He later died.  

As a result of Fr. Bacquelin’s death, St. Vincent became a mission of Richmond, Fr. John Ryan and then, St. John’s in Indianapolis, Fr. John McDermott. Fr. Patrick Murphy succeeded him, lasting until April, 1848 when Fr. John Gueguen began serving St. Vincent. Fr. Gueguen remained until Fr. Daniel Molony was assigned to St. John’s. His tenure lasted from April, 1853 to May 16, 1855, when Fr. Edward Martinovic, known as Fr. Martin became our pastor.

The arrival of Fr. Martin signaled a period of progress for St. Vincent’s. With Fr. Martin and Sr. Antonia Dreer, the mother superior of the Sisters of St. Francis Oldenburg, established a parochial school in 1861. At the same time, an eight-room brick convent was constructed. The land for the school and convent was purchased by the sisters. It remained their property till 1926 when the deed was transferred to the parish at a cost of $1000. The Sisters of St. Francis from Oldenburg, IN, taught the children at St. Vincent parish for 110 years.

 Prior to these innovations, Fr. Martin built a parsonage. The brick structure, finished in 1858, is that portion of today’s parish house which serves as kitchen and dining room.

It was July 1, 1863 when Fr. John Gillig was sent to St. Vincent. During his tenure, ground was purchased in Shelbyville for establishment of what would evolve into St. Joseph’s parish.  Since Fr. Bacquelin’s time, St. Joseph’s had been attached to St. Vincent as a mission. It was July 22, 1886, when Fr. Adelric Kaelin became St. Joseph’s pastor.

Fr. William Doyle succeeded Fr. Gillig at St. Vincent’s.  Fr. Doyle was our spiritual head from March 1867 to Nov, 1868, when Fr. Francis Rudolf became pastor and remained for 13 years. It was Fr. Rudolf that built on the addition to the parish house in 1870 and made plans to build a new church in 1877.  The new church was completed in 1880 at the cost of $9000. It was dedicated on Sept. 4, 1880

Fr. Francis Torbeck took charge after Fr. Rudolf left May 4, 1881. Fr. Michael Guthneck replaced him in July of 1886 to 1890. During his years, he secured a new cemetery plot, laying out new lots with limestone markers. Arnold E. Worland was the first person buried in the cemetery on July 30, 1837.

Fr. Joseph Hegger spent only January, 1891, followed by Fr. Hundt for one year, being succeeded on Feb. 1, 1892 by Fr. Gustave Ginnsz. Fr. Ginnsz had a gas well drilled and purchased statues and Nativity crib during his stay till Aug. 1896. 

On Aug. 1, 1896, Fr. Aloysius Danenhoffer came to St. Vincent. He stayed until Feb. 1, 1898. The century closed with two men spending brief stints. They were Fr. Charles Stricker Feb. to Nov., 1898 and Fr. Joseph Haas Nov.1898 to Jan. 1899. In March, 1899, Fr. Joseph Bauer came and stayed for nearly 6 years. During his stay, a pipe organ and stations of the cross were purchased. 

In Feb, 1906, Fr. Frederic Ketter became pastor. During his time a new school was built in 1914 for $4,851. The school house consisted of two classrooms and a full basement. It served as a full time school until 1971 it closed. There were 60 pupils in attendance on the last day, May 21, 1971. 

On July 15, 1918, Fr. Cornelious Otto Bosler became our pastor. WW I was about to end. Fr. Bosler remained at St. Vincent till Oct. 25, 1923. Following Fr. Bosler, Fr. Francis Wolf was St. Vincent’s pastor from Oct. 26, 1923 until April 15, 1926. 

On April 4, 1924 early in the morning, it is highly suspected that the KKK set the church on fire. The Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle was not burned and the St. Vincent de Paul Statue on the front of the church was spared. On Aug. 17, 1924 the cornerstone was laid for the new church. Among the things sealed in the cornerstone were some documents salvaged from the 1880 cornerstone, including a sketch by Fr. Rudolf. Newspapers of 1880 vintage and a 1924 edition of the diocesan newspaper.

After the new church was built, Fr. Aloysius Laugel was sent to assist Fr. Wolf. Due to all the stress, Fr. Wolf’s health was waning.
On April 15, 1926, Fr. Joseph Duffey was assigned Pastor of St. Vincent.  On March 12,1926, Balthasar Roell became the first to be buried from the new church even though much of the scaffolding still remained. The bells were blessed on April 18, 1926. The smaller bell was donated by Joseph and Lena Beyer, the larger bell by John H and Joseph Pollman. The Pollman’s grandparents John W. and Mary Ann were donors of the bells of the 1880 church.

The new church was dedicated on Sept. 6, 1926, by Bishop Joseph Chartrand. On Sept. 2,1926, Bernard Settles and Matilda Heppner was the first couple to be married in the new church.  On Oct. 10, Fr. Ebnet blessed the stations of the cross which had just arrived from Tyrol Italy—gifts of Joseph and Elizabeth Rosenfeld and family. Fr. Duffey was replaced by Fr. Thomas Hoffman in June of 1928. Fr. Hoffman was here for only five months. In Nov. 1928 Fr. Pierce Dixon became pastor and the parish flourished. Fr. Andrew Bastnagel replaced Fr. Dixon in 1932 and remained for two years. In July of 1934, Fr. Bernard Riedford was here for four years followed by Fr. Henry Trapp. Fr. Trapp arrived in Sept. of 1938 and stayed until Jan. 10, 1941. On Jan. 10, 1941 Fr. John A. Bankowski became pastor and remained for nearly 9 years. On Dec. 1, 1949 Fr. Anthony Seger arrived and stayed for nearly 25 years. During Fr. Seger’s time, the inside of the church was painted in 1955, the kneelers were padded in 1960 and extensive repair was done on the steeple in 1968. During Fr. Seger’s time here, Vatican Council II took place. The changes in liturgy were very hard for some people, but with the leadership of Fr. Seger change we did. Fr. Seger died on April 16, 1973 at the age of 72.  For three months, St. Vincent was without a resident pastor.  On July 5, 1973 Fr. Joseph Laugel was sent here and was with us nearly six years.   

On July 10, 1979 Fr. James Dede came to St. Vincent as Pastor. Fr. Dede recruited help to bring back Religious Education for the children. Debbie Bogemann with the help of Sr. Mary Jo Kirt of Green Bay, WI organized the program. He began a weekly bulletin, Richard, Schoentrup, Tom Zobel and Mary Weaver became the first lay people to help with liturgical readings and distribution of Holy Communion.

Srs. Verlann Major and Marjorie Niemer, OSF got us acquainted with folk Masses. In June of 1980, the first election of the parish council took place. The first major business at hand for the council was renovating the interior of the church. “Reordering” became a new word in our vocabulary. And reorder we did in the spirit of the Vatican II Council. Meetings were held, funds were raised. From May 10 to Sept. 19 when the first Mass in the refurbished church was celebrated, painters, carpenters, electricians, plumbing and heating specialist, sound system technicians, marble experts, carpet layers and wood refinishers shuffled in and out of the church.  A June 10, 1981 financial report estimated cost of the project at $143,552.87.  In July and August of 1981 several families expressed interest in donating stained glass windows. The church of 1981 is a blending of things past with things present.

St. Ann’s Altar Society decided to build a shrine to remember the Sisters of St. Francis near the place where the convent used to be. On October 9, 1994, Fr. Dede officially dedicated the Shrine with a plaque that states, “Dedicated to the Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg who have served St. Vincent’s Parish since 1861.”

Fr. Paul Landwerlen became pastor in July, 1996. During his time at St. Vincent’s, he moved the tabernacle back to a central place in the church and hung an enormous crucifix above the altar.  He also had the Divine Mercy Image painted above the tabernacle and a Dove painted above the baptistry. On December 11, 1998 the steeple was replaced and the bells were rehung.  They had stopped ringing in 1965.

Fr. Paul retired at the end of June, 2013. For three months Fr. Aaron Pfaff from St. Joseph Parish took care of finances and provided spiritual care until Oct. 1, 2013 when Sr. Joan Miller was appointed Parish Life Coordinator. After that Fr. Pfaff no longer need to care for finances, but continued to celebrate masses.  Our weekend Mass schedule was cut from 3 masses to one Mass on Sunday morning. Fr. Pfaff also celebrated a Mass on Monday evening and on Wednesday morning. 

Sr. Joan conducted monthly parish council meetings and quarterly finance committee meetings. On July of 2014 lightening struck the church and damaged the bells, the sound system and the organ.  During her stay at St. Vincent’s the Sacramental Minister was the pastor of St. Joseph Parish.  Fr. Pfaff was Sacramental minister until July 5, 2016. Fr. Rodriguez was Sacramental minister from July until March 26, 2017. Fr. Joseph Newton became Sacramental Minister on March 29 until July 5, 2017 and then Fr. Michael Keucher became Sacramental Minister for St. Vincent’s.

All of the tiles in the drainage ditch along Michigan Road were replaced May, 2018. During Sept. 2018, the ditch along 244 was cleaned out and Rip Rap was placed on the banks of the ditch.  On Sept. 16, 2021 the church boiler was taken out. It was replaced late August and early September, 2021. 

St. Ann’s Altar Society is one of the oldest ministries at St. Vincent Parish. They provide funds to purchase hosts and wine for mass, altar linens used at the altar and pries’  ts vestments. The ladies of this organization raise their funds by holding rummage sales two times a year. One in the spring and one on the first weekend of October. The rummage can be brought to the parish garage at any time during the year. The garage is cleaned out twice a year and it all begins again.