St. Peter’s Congregation was organized in 1854 by a circuit-riding priest named Father Martin Kundig (or Kundy). He helped build the first small Catholic church in Beaver Dam soon after that year. The congregation had at its roots a group of Bavarian immigrants from the Regensburg area - some of these early family names were Amann, Aukofer, Bauer, Geniger, Geschel, Graff, Haider, Hammer, Koebler, Kolb, Miller, Roedl, Steil, Waldhier and Zweck.