City of Mason City accepts deed to historical St. John’s Baptist Church in effort to revitalize structure

MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City last week approved accepting the deed for a historical church in the southwestern part of town.

Mayor Bill Schickel says the council earlier this year authorized staff to extend an offer to purchase the two parcels that include the St. John’s Baptist Church and an adjacent undeveloped lot from the North Iowa Youth Center, which had taken ownership of the properties to avoid their sale for unpaid assessments.   “This is the historic St. John’s Church, I call it the St. John’s neighborhood there, traditionally a Black neighborhood in Mason City, and this building is on the National Register of Historic Places, has a great, great history in Mason City. It’s become dilapidated, and you know, we can’t save all the historic structures in Mason City, but when we can, particularly something of significance like this, we should. So the title of that’s been turned over to the city.”

Schickel says the city’s Historic Preservation Commission will work with a group working to save the church to restore that building for future use.  “Perhaps an events center? We don’t know yet, we’ll work with the committee on that. Whether the city retains long-term ownership of that is an open question. That will be up to the City Council. Maybe it’s eventually turned over to a non-profit organization for management, but having it in the hands of the community now gives us some additional grant opportunities and secures the future of a truly historic building in Mason City.”

The church and adjacent lot are located at 715 6th Street Southwest and 603 South Van Buren Avenue.