Since the age of the fur trade, churches have existed in the Rendezvous Region. In fact, the earliest known church in North Dakota was a small Roman Catholic mission which was started in Pembina in 1812 to serve Chippewa Indians, Metis, and other fur trappers and traders. After the international boundary line placed Pembina in the United States, the priest packed up his belongings and headed north to Canada, abandoning his church.

It sat empty until 1848 when Father George Belcourt reopened the mission. He called it St. Joseph, though, when the Red River flooded in the spring of 1851, they were forced to relocate and chose a site in present-day Walhalla. For two decades, St. Joseph was the center of the Metis culture in the United States.

During the late 1840s, Father Belcourt, whose legacy also includes opening the first flour mill in North Dakota, hung a three-hundred pound bell in the belfry of the church. It was the first church bell that rang on the plains of Dakota Territory. Father Belcourt was also responsible for the construction of a Catholic convent.

Over the next centuries, many changes occurred in the region. The convent eventually closed and was moved to Frost Fire Park. New life was breathed into the old building and it now provides a large variety of sleeping rooms, a main sitting area, and bath facilities for the seasonal cast for a number of years. The famous church bell was moved to St. Boniface church in Walhalla where it still rings today, a reminder of the legacy left by Father Belcourt.