St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Rib Lake, Wisconsin

Railroad Depot in Foreground

Rib Lake is located directly east of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in Taylor County Wisconsin.   The Catholic church was built in 1894 on a knoll in the southwest section of the village, the site overlooking the village as well as the lake. 

In 1880 the site of Rib Lake was a wilderness.  Most of the land in the territory was owned by the government and the old Wisconsin Railroad.  Before the town was established, the countryside was a forest primeval. The forests were so vast, no human mind could imagine that they would ever be depleted.

In 1881 J.J. Kennedy bought a large tract of timber land in this locality and began constructing a saw-mill, about which the town developed, known as Rib Lake, since the lake on whose banks it was erected has the shape and form of an immense rib. Mr. Kennedy donated the lumber to build the churches in Rib Lake with the stipulation that they all have the name John.