| Summary: | 11 ZEELAND: The townsite of Zeeland is a part of the Pre-emption of Heinrich Ellwein, which had been sold to the Christian Bauers in Dec. of 1897. The Milwaukee Land Company platted the townsite and conveyed the right-of-way to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and Pacific Railway Co. In September of 1902, the railway was brought in from the then-terminal, Eureka, S. Dak. In anticipation several business men had moved their buildings and businesses from Eureka to Zeeland. Others had hauled in lumber from Eureka to establish their businesses and homes. But the real building boom began when lumber could be shipped in by rail. The streets were graded in 1903. The following year saw wooden sidewalks and a two-room school house. Zeeland received its first charter and was organized into a village in 1905. Its first townboard consisted of Frank Kraft (Cath.), Adolph Boschee (Prot.), and Adolph Feinstein (Jew). By 1906 the town had four general stores, one bank, four grain elevators, two lumber yards, a large school building, three machinery dealers and two churches. It was one of the prettiest and best regulated towns in the county, rath a populatioi of about 400. And it continued to grow. At one time, it was larger than Ashley. THE NEW CHURCHES: This brings us back to where we left off; namely, the question about building a new and bigger church at St. John's. Fr. Stephen Stenger (1398-1908) had been appointed pastor of St. John's with the surrounding territory as his mission. There were two legitimate positions. One was to build a large church at St. John's, and the other was to develope mission churches that could dcvelope into future parishes of their own. With different opinions often come some hard feelings that get blown out of proportion. Although not all Catholic, the populatioi of Zeeland had already grown to about 400. Leaving other things aside, the towns people felt that they should build their own church in town, which had good prospects for future growth. On the other hand, the people of St. John's felt that the towns people should help build a new church at St. John's, from which they had benefited. To his credit, Fr. Stenger had vision. A single large church at St. John's would require people for miles around to come great distances rath horse and buggy with little or no roads. Accomodating all the horses was another question. Fr. Stenger had the foresight to build mission churches that would grow into parishes and at the same time reduce the mileage for those coming to church; - not only the mileage, but also the travelling time. Regardless of individual feelings and motives, he made the right choice. In 1905 the Church of St. Andrew was built in Zeeland, as a mission out of St. John's. The same year, St. Anthony (S.W. of Napoleon was built at the cost of about $2500.00, which received its first resident pastor in 1908. Then there was the Church of St. Aloysius on Beaver Creek, and Holy Trinity Church at Grassna. Although a church had been built in Hague in 1890, Fr. Stenger also served that "church from 1898 to 1906. Having acquired much knowledge at the Abbey, Fr. Stenger was also a great leader in improving farming methods and in developing better breeds of horses, cattle, hogs, poultry, etc. to supplement the grain crops of the farmers, steering them into more diversified farming. He had some highly-bred male animals of his own, and made them available to the farmers to build up their own stock. In 1906, the new and present church of St. John's (32 x 78Ft.) was built at St. John's at a cost of about $8000.00, a year after St. Andrew's was built. SUCCEEDING PASTORS: At St. John's, Fr. Stephen Stenger was succeeded by Fr. Stephen Landolt, who stayed only a few months at St. John's before he was appointed to be the first resident pastor of St. Andrew's, with St. John's as a mission for two years. Next came Fr. Nik. Paul Junger in 1910, who took care of both parishes for about a year. He was followed by Fr. Herman Decker in 1911. Fr. Decker stayed in Zeeland for only a short time, and then became the resident pastor of St. John's until 1914, with St. Andrew's as a mission. He built the second rectory at St. John's. In 1914, all immigration ceased, due to World War I. Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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