The German Catholic immigrants who founded St. John the Baptist parish on the central Minnesota prairie effected a remarkable transfer of tradition to their new environment. Fred W. Peterson reveals how they inherited folk culture, aesthetic values, and religious beliefs which were directly embodied in the brick farmhouses, dairy farms, and churches they built between 1858 and 1915. Building Community, Keeping the Faith is compelling reading for students of architecture, religion, immigration, and ethnicity -- indeed for anyone interested in the complex influence European culture exerted on the development of America.

Available for the first time in paperback and with a new preface, Homes in the Heartland offers a captivating explanation of the revolutionary balloon frame house construction that swept across Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin from 1850 to 1920, enabling the settlers of the upper Midwest to build affordable permanent structures in which to establish frontier homes.   Featuring more than 150 illustrations, including photographs and house plans, Fred W. Peterson leads readers through the technical aspects of farmhouse construction and discusses the social, economic, and aesthetic values of these familiar homes. Together these narratives provide a fascinating window into the lives of the people who occupied these houses. As the American Historical Review says, “Peterson demonstrates the potential and use of architecture for the purposes of writing social history.�   Fred W. Peterson retired in 1999 from teaching art history at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He lives in Salisbury, Maryland.