Our Lady of Lourdes church has a very interesting history.

A Swiss Catholic priest, Father Werner Ruittimann, who was also involved in founding the towns of Sublimity and Scio, founded the town of Jordon.  By 1884 several young women were leading a semi-religious life in the Jordan colony.  Archbishop William Gross would later invite these women to become a formal Religious community.

In 1885, due to a disagreement with their trustees, these young women left Jordan to move in with the Benedectine Sisters in Mount Angel.

However, that did not spell the end of the Jordan religious community. In late 1904 a half doaen excile Trappist monks from France arrived in Oregon.  By 1905 they had acquired roughly 400 acres of land on the plateau overlooking Thomas Creek.  The monks stuggled for a dozen or so years in "primitive and precarious" conditions before the monastary was closed by church elders.

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish lives on.  An interesting look at Oregon history can by had with a brief walk through the cemetary behind the church.