St. Michael's Catholic Church is a former parish of the Diocese of Davenport. The church is located in the unincorporated village of Holbrook, east of Parnell, Iowa, United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as St. Michael's Church, Cemetery, Rectory, and Ancient Order of Hibernians Hall in 1983. Holbrook The parish buildings represent the Irish-Catholic settlement of Holbrook. The area of Iowa County, Iowa that became known as Holbrook was settled by Irish immigrants or descendants of Irish immigrants. Thomas Hanson, one of those settlers, brought the priest from Iowa City in his lumber wagon and Mass was celebrated in his home. People from the surrounding area would gather for the Mass. The former rectory sits across the highway from the church and the former Hibernian Hall is across the cemetery to the west. The cemetery surrounds the church on three sides. Other than a few houses, they are all that is left of the village which at one time had a post office and a store. St. Michael's Parish The parish was established in 1843 and plans to erect a church were begun. A small frame church was built in what is now St. Michael's Cemetery, near the site of the present church building. The Rev. Mathias Hannon, who came to Holbrook from St. Mary's in Iowa City for the first time in 1853, described the church thus, "I said mass within before the floor was laid, had the beautiful snow for carpet, and a pine box for an altar in fact a place as forlorn as the stable wherein the Savior was born. There was no more than fourteen families." Bishop Mathias Loras of the Diocese of Dubuque assigned the Rev. Peter J. Sullivan as the first resident pastor. He built the current church building in the Romanesque Revival style in 1867. The building is constructed of brick, measures , and cost about $2,000 to build. The pastor himself donated the paintings for the Stations of the Cross, which cost $1,000. They are no longer in the church and what happened to them is unknown. St. Michael's became a parish of the Davenport Diocese when it was established in 1881. Alterations were made to the buildings as the years continued. The bell, which is still in the tower, was cast in St. Louis in 1882. A new dome was placed on top of