In the summer of 1859, Fr. Adrian Hoecken, Fr. Camillus Imoda and Fr. Vincent Mgri looked for a possible site for a Catholic Mission.  They built 3 small log cabins and spent the winter studying the Blackfeet language and preparing for missionary work.  However, the Native people were so hostile the mission was abandoned March 1860.  Three crosses were later erected on the site a few miles southeast of the present city of Choteau and it is commonly known as Priest's Butte.
 

About the year 1898, the original schoolhouse in Choteau was purchased for $300 and moved and became the first Catholic Church in Choteau.  It was dedicated in 1906 as St. Luke's - a mission of Augusta.  On July 8, 1941, ground was broken for the new church, to be officially dedicated to the patronage of St. Joseph.  The first Mass was celebrated on Easter Sunday (April 5) in 1942 and the parish name officially changed from St. Luke to St. Joseph.  The altar is built of Tokeen Alaska marble, and the painting on the ceiling above the altar was painted by Sister Raphael, an Ursuline nun.  In 1986, St Joseph was combined with the parishes of Choteau, Fairfield and Augusta with Augusta designated as a mission of Fairfield.

Mass was celebrated in private homes in Fairfield as early as 1915.  In 1935, the old St. John's Church was moved from Collins to Fairfield, repaired and improved for $854.33.  As more Catholics moved to the area, a new church was needed.  Ground was broken on October 2, 1940 (feast of the Guardian Angels) and the cornerstone laid on Passion Sunday (March 30, 1941).  The first Mass celebrated in the new St. John's Church was August 3, 1941.  

Since 1897, this area was served by priests from St. Peters Mission and Fort Benton.  The present church building was dedicated on February 27, 1964.