In 1912, recognizing a greater need to serve the growing Catholic population of K-State, 36 students founded the Newman Club of Kansas State University. This club utilized the church and basement of Seven Dolors for their chapter meetings until the late 1950’s. In 1958, the Newman Foundation purchased a house at 711 Denison Ave and converted it into a student center with a chapel that could seat 40 people. In 1961, a diocesean wide collection began to raise funds for a dedicated student center and church for K-State students. In 1963, Bishop Freking dedicated the new student center and church that could seat 475 people. For the following 60 years, those facilities would continue to serve the students at K-State and Manhattan community, but as the Catholic population continued to grow, a new need arose to have larger facilities.

In 2019, a capital campaign began with the goal of building a larger church, a new rectory, and remodeling the student center. Ground was broken in May of 2020 to start the addition of Newman Hall and the kitchen, beginning the remodel of the student center. The original church building was torn down the day after Easter, April 5, 2021. Within 6 months, construction to build the new church began.

A year and a half later, on January 28, 2023, our new church was completed and dedicated with a new capacity of 750 and a remodeled student center, built to better accommodate and serve K-State students. Today, we have over 2,500 students involved at St. Isidore’s in some capacity, attending Mass, dollar dinners, other sacraments, and social events.