St. Joseph's Catholic Church is a former parish of the Diocese of Davenport. The church is located in Dallas township in rural Marion County, Iowa, United States. It was part of the now defunct village of Bauer. The closest communities are Melcher-Dallas and Lacona. The church building still stands and together with the adjacent cemetery comprises an historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. History St. Joseph's was founded in 1853 to serve German immigrants in a place in western Marion County called Newbern, or New Bern. The unincorporated village that was built around the church was later called Bauer after the family name of the area's earliest German settlers. The parish was founded in the Diocese of Dubuque during the episcopate of Bishop Mathias Loras. The church building was built in 1876 under the leadership of Bishop John Hennessy. Initially, the parish did not have a resident priest and was served by priests located at St. Patrick’s in Georgetown. Its first two church buildings were log structures that were built on the same property of the present church. The Rev. John Baumann was assigned as the first resident parish priest. The first rectory was built in 1873. Baumann blessed the cornerstone for the present church on October 3, 1875, and the Rev. S. Cann preached a sermon. Limestone, which is abundant in this area, was from a quarry located southeast of the church and used for the foundation. The clay for the bricks was excavated from the property, and the bricks were formed and fired on site under the direction of parishioner Jacob Metz. Other members of the parish built the building. The finished church building was dedicated in 1876. Shortly after the church was built Father Wieland replaced Baumann as pastor. The high altar and the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary were created by Buscher & Kramer and installed in 1880. The St. Joseph altar was installed sometime later. The pews were installed the following year, as were the bells in the tower. The bells were produced by J. G. Struckstede and Brother of St. Louis, Missouri. Bells are dedicated to the honor of the saints (Ad Honorem Sts.) and St. Joseph (Sancta Joseph). In 1881 the parish became part of the Davenport Diocese when it was established. A reed organ built by the Estey Organ Company of Brattleboro, Vermont was installed around 1900.