The Roman Catholic Church of the Ascension was established on the North Side in 1890 to serve the needs primarily of German and a lesser number of Irish immigrants who were living further north near Broadway. After outgrowing its initial small wooden church, the congregation erected a larger, more imposing brick church complex similar to St. Joseph's at 17th and Bryant Avenue North. Dedicated in 1903 by Archbishop John Ireland, Ascension, similar to St. Joseph, served as a cultural and community center for its neighborhood. Non-Catholic respondents living nearby recall that as children they took swimming lessons in the church's pool and attended athletic events, particularly boxing matches, in the gymnasium. Unlike St. Joseph, Ascension remains on the North Side, serving a multiethnic and multigenerational parish that reflects the changes the neighborhood has undergone over the past one hundred plus years.
- Church of the Ascension, "Parish History, 1890 - 1923," http://ascensionmpls.org/yesterday/parish-history-1890-1923/?lang=en Works Progress Administration. Works Progress Administration Field Reports.