In the course of the industrialisation in the second half of the 19th century Mühlhausen’s population grew rapidly. Especially the influx of workers from the Eichsfeld region contributed to the considerable growth of the Catholic community, which had been founded in 1849. St. Boniface Chapel at the Blobach square, built in 1851, was no longer large enough for Mühlhausen’s Catholic community. In 1884 an association was founded to facilitate the construction of a new church, and in order to finance it an additional church tax was levied from the parish, on top of the regular church tax. As more supporters joined the effort, land was acquired at the Waidstraße in 1900. Plans for the construction of the church were worked out by Arnold Güldenpfennig, master builder from the diocese of Paderborn, who finished them by 1902. Already in 1905, only two years after the groundbreaking ceremony of 14 July 1903, the new church was ready for use. St. Joseph’s Church was consecrated on 5 August 1907. Joseph, the patron saint of workers, was considered the ideal choice for their new church. Together with the rectory and the chaplaincy the church blended harmoniously into the buildings and social milieu that grew around the rail station that had opened in 1870. Today the neo-Gothic building of St. Joseph’s complements the churches of Mühlhausen. The church steeple rises 52 metres high into the air, forming an integral part of the city’s skyline. Viewed from the outside, the west entrance stands out for its elaborate design. Beneath the crucifixion group are sculptures of the four Latin Fathers of the Church: the Saints Gregory, Jerome, Augustine and Ambrose. The interior of the church was redesigned several times. Since 2001 the free standing altar with its altar crucifix by Hildegard Hendrichs, dated 1966, located in the axis to the eastern window, immediately attracts the views of visitors. Behind five choir windows, designed by Maren Magdalena Sorger, merge together with the altarpiece, forming the central work of art of the church interior. Church, rectory and chaplaincy are complemented by a parish hall, built in 1995. It is named after the Liborius Wagner the Blessed who was baptized in 1593 in the Imperial City of Mühlhausen as son of Protestant parents in the Church of Blaise the Divine. In Würzburg he converted to Catholicism and was ordained as a Priest in 1625. As parish priest of Altenmünster-Sulzdorf, near Schweinfurt, he was captured during the Thirty Years’ War and refused to renounce his Catholic faith despite being tortured. He died on 9 December 1631 and was subsequently worshipped as a martyr. On 24 March 1974 Liborius Wagner was beatified by Pope Paul VI in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.