GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH

The story of Good Shepherd Church is mostly one in Golden Valley, but it does have a distant St. Louis Park connection.  Much of the following is from Golden Valley - A History of a Minnesota City, Golden Valley Historical Society, 1986.

The parish of the Church of the Good Shepherd was established in December 1945.  Some of the parish territory was taken from Holy Family in St. Louis Park.  Without a home, manager Iver Stranger offered the group the use of the Boulevard Cafe on Wayzata Blvd. in Golden Valley. He even offered his dance band to provide the music. The first mass was offered on April 21, 1946, serving 300 Easter worshipers. News of the church in the tavern became national and was reported in Variety.  Father Thomas MacNamara used a portable altar that he had used in the Italian battlefields of WWII.  

Late that summer, a tract of land just under 4 acres at 1440 Highway 100 So. (then called Lilac Drive So.) was purchased from a local family in the southwest quadrant of the intersection of Highways 12 and 100.  The church consisted of two Army barracks that had done duty in Alaska, and was known as the Quonset Hut.  This land was seemingly in St. Louis Park, as it was south of Highway 12, but Golden Valley did indeed own land right at that intersection, and still does today.  Today the land is vacant, but valued at over $1 million.



Finally, an 18-acre parcel of land in Golden Valley was donated by the Holsum Bread Company.  The first mass was said at the new location, 145 Jersey Ave. So., on February 16, 1957.

A Parochial school started in 1959, with grades added as years went by.  In 1992, Good Shepherd School merged with Holy Family to become Parkvalley Catholic School. 







 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.