History

Knights of Columbus
Father Lucien Galtier Council 4184
West Saint Paul, Minnesota

An organizational meeting for a new Knights of Columbus council was held in St. Joseph’s Social Hall on January 25, 1956. Present at he meeting were Mr. Sevence J. Widmam, St Paul District Deputy of District No. 1, Mr. Paul Castner, area insurance representative, two organizers from the supreme council and West side members of St. Paul Council No. 397.

With the assistance of local pastors, application cards were given out at all churches in the area several weeks prior to this meeting.

At a second meeting held in St. Joseph’s Social Hall on January 30, 1956 the following temporary officers were elected: Gerald Carlson, Grand Knight; Maitland Kelley, Deputy Grand Knight; and Walter Baillon, Financial Secretary.

On February 19, 1956 the first candidate, Walter Baillon, Financial Secretary Elect, was initiated into the new council in the Minneapolis Council Chambers. Grand Knight Carlson and Deputy Grand Knight Kelley were present and witnessed the ceremony. Then on February 26, 1956 the charter initiation was held in the St. Paul Council Chambers with forty-two candidates.

The new council was formed from the forty-three new members and forty-eight transfers on March 7, 1956 at St. Joseph’s Social Hall, the date the Council Charter was issued. All twenty charter insurance members are shown on the charter along with twenty associate members.

Father Lucien Galtier was selected as the patron name of the new council. Father Galtier. Father Galtier was the first parish priest in the Diocese of St. Paul, now the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. In 1840 he became the founder and first pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Mendota, the first church and parish in Minnesota. In 1841 he build a chapel in the small settlement on the Mississippi River known as Pig’s Eye Landing. Since the first church in Mendota was St. Peter’s, Father Galtier named this new chapel in honor of St. Paul. From this chapel the City of St. Paul derived its name. Father Galtier left this area in 1844 to word in Wisconsin, but he kept a keen interest in what was happening in the growing City of St. Paul. He died in 1866 and is buried in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

The council serves the parishes of St. Joseph and St. Michael in West St. Paul; St. Matthew and Our Lady of Guadalupe on St. Paul's West Side; and Holy Family in Mendota Heights.

In 1957 Max Hoemke and Bob St. Martin began a Squires Circle and in 1959 the Lucien Galtier Ladies was formed, however, neither of these organizations continue to be active.

Over the years the council held its meetings in various places: St. Joseph’s Social Hall, St. Joseph’s School, St. Peter’s Social Hall, Elk’s Club, Blaeser’s Hall, American Legion Hall, our own Knight’s of Columbus Hall on Robert Street (now St. Mary’s Eastern Orthodox Church), Brady High School, West Side Lanes, O’Gara’s West, St. Michael’s Cafeteria, St. Michael’s Rectory, St. Joseph’s Social Hall, and St. Michael’s Parish Center. Currently the meetings are in St. Joseph's Msgr. Foran Great Hall.

From its inception Father Lucien Galtier Council has been involved in many projects for the benefit of church and community. Members of the council provided leadership for youth activities including the sponsorship of a Squire Circle, teen dances, Christmas parties, summer picnics, grade school football and basketball, Little League Baseball, a Boy Scout Troop for special scouts, a pledge to Divine Redeemer Hospital, and scholarships to the College of St. Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas). In 2010, Council 4184 organized and co-sponsored a "Year For Priests" event at the Science Museum of Minnesota, providing for 92 area priests a free dinner, the Omnitheater movie "Arabia" and a tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.

To raise funds for these activities the council has sold Christmas trees, held annual Booyas, conducted bingo and raffles, and did breakfast events at Applebees.

From 1989 to 1995 the council, through bingo and pull-tab gaming, donated $463,578.07. The list of organizations and causes that received these funds is much too long to list here. Some that received donation on a regular basis were Mary’s Shelter, Wakota Life Care Center, seminaries, churches and schools, both private and public, in West St. Paul and the West Side, and many local youth activities.

In recent years, the council participates in the annual drive for raising funds for persons with special needs, better known as the K of C Tootsie Roll drive. Knights accept donations as they pass out Tootsie Rolls at churches, local stores and shopping centers. Proceeds have gone to Special Olympics and Dakota Communities.

In 2001, the council erected memorials to the Unborn at St. Thomas Academy and the Convent of the Visitation School, both in Mendota Heights.

The council has for years and continues to offer entertainment for the residents of the Southview Acres Health Care Center every other month. In recent years the council has held a dinner/raffle/silent auction for the benefit of the Wakota Life Care Center in West St. Paul.

Our council has been blessed by having generous clergy to serve as chaplains. One in particular never missed a council or district meeting or a state convention. The names of the clergy who served as chaplains are the following: Msgr. Foran, Father Marschall, Father Dudley, Father Doffing, Father Wehscheider, Father Janski, Father Remes, Father Mahfoud, Father Dvork, Deacon Ronald Getz, Deacon Jose Carranza, and our present chaplain, Father Kenneth O’Hotto.

GRAND KNIGHTS

*Deceased

MEMBERS WHO SERVED AS DISTRICT DEPUTY

Gerald Carlson, Norman Boe, Edmund Stein, Max Hoemke, George Baldy, Raymond Marschall