The history of the Church of St. James is not rooted in a building or a parcel of land.  It is a history rooted in faith and challenges, in families and clergy who serve the Lord in the community of Dawson, originally predominantly Danish settlement.

The first Mass celebrated in Dawson was with a missionary priest in 1887.  St. James parish was incorporated July 25, 1898, and had seven Catholic families who built the little church on the hill.  The first Mass in the new church was celebrated November 20, 1898.  By November 1910, the small congregation realized they could not support a parish.  For the next 28 years, the Dawson families were members of St. Michael in Madison or St. Andrew in Granite Falls.

During the summer of 1938, with thirteen families, the parish was reestablished.  The parish was ready to celebrate Mass on September 4 in a building purchased from a Methodist society.  In the following 17 years, the parish grew to 35 families and the need for a larger building became evident.  The congregation moved into the present church on April 29, 1956.  The St. James Cemetery was established four miles east of Dawson in September 1966.