Immaculate Conception Mission

Stepstone

In 1858, Reverend Lawrence Spitzelberger, pastor of Four mile, began to offer Mass once a month for the eight German Catholic families at Stepstone, in Pendleton County.  Stepstone was considered as a good section for vineyards.  Boats landed at the outlet of Stepstone Creek, about a mile from the settlement.  In January, 1860, the Catholics of Stepstone undertook the erection of a church.  The little church, twenty by fifty feet, situated on a three-acre plot of ground, was blessed by Father Spitzelberger on Sunday, October 21, 1861, under the title of the Immaculate Conception.  The Immaculate Conception Mission later became attached to the SS. Peter and Paul Parish, Twelve Mile.

 by Rev. Paul E. Ryan, excerpted from his History of the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky, on the Occasion of the Centenary of the Diocese, 1853-1953