An 1878 photograph of Sister Scholastica Kerst in the St. Benedict's convent habit. Catherine (Sister, later Mother Scholastica) Kerst (1847-1911) was born in Meuringen, Prussia, and came to St. Paul, MN, in 1852 with her parents. She entered the Benedictine community of St. Gertrude in Shakopee, MN, in 1862 and in 1877 transferred to St. Benedict's Convent in St. Joseph, MN. She was prioress there from 1880-1889. In 1892, she led the foundation of what is now St. Scholastica Monastery and was prioress there until her death in 1911.
This is a photo of the Union Presbyterian Church in St. Peter, located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Third and Locust streets, facing Third street. See also E4008.
This photo shows the Union Presbyterian Church in St. Peter, located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Third and Locust streets, facing Third street. See also E7580.
Interior view of the Union Presbyterian Church in St. Peter in 1878. The church is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Third and Locust streets, facing Third street.
Interior view of the Union Presbyterian Church in St. Peter after it was remodeled for the first time. The church is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Third and Locust streets, facing Third street.
The interior of the Union Presbyterian Church in St. Peter, Minnesota, is shown in this stereograph. The church, which has been extensively remodeled inside, faces South Third Street on the northwestern corner of the intersection with West Locust Street.
Sacred Heart Parsonage and Church. Left side of iamge is a drawing of the Church with two steeples. Right side of image is photograph of Parsonage. Parsonage has white picket fence, three chimneys, shutters, barge board at gable. Wood stacked to facing left of house. Parsons standing on facing right porch. Barn in background. Father Kennedy reading a book from his library. Belle Plaine. The house was moved in 1928. Owned by Mary Kilduff. Later moved again. owned in 1984 by Pat Savage.
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). Students and faculty of the first academy class in the Haarman Building (1880-1881) are identified as follows. Faculty upper row: Sisters 1. Flavia Pokowsky, 2. Magdelen Enste, 3. Elizabeth Will (who later became Sister Julia), 4. Bede Linnemann. Faculty - 2nd row: Sister Anotolia Langsford. Faculty - 3rd row: Sister Irminia Kretzer. Students - 2nd row: Anna Burrell, Cecilia Beck, S. Farrell, Katie Rovischer, Emma Otto, Aggie Zingerly, Rose Weiner, Carrie Capser, Iona Owens, Lilly Miller, Katherine Riesgraf, Anna Kapsner. Students - lower 3 rows: Antonette Jennings, Virgina Gerard (later Sister Anastasia), Lena Schlick, Anna Waschenberger, Mary Phillip, Ella Egan, Jennie Kennedy, Katie Loso, Aloysia Zingerly, Adela Jennings, Clara Pottgieser, Lorrina Maurin, Tillie Maurin, Lizzie Beck, Josie Kapser. Because St. Agnes Academy was not flourishing in St. Cloud, Mother Aloysia Bath and the community decided in 1879 to build a new boarding academy at St. Joseph. When the basement walls were nearly completed, the cold weather halted construction; lack of funds prevented more building for another 2 years. The next prioress, Mother Scholastica Kerst, closed the St. Agnes Academy in St. Cloud and rented the Haarman Building across from the church and convent in St. Joseph to open a select boarding academy, St. Joseph's Academy. The Haarman Building was rented for only one year. Because the school was so successful, the earlier plans for a new academy building were immediately resumed and Cecilia Hall was rapidly completed for use in 1882. When the building was blessed, St. Joseph's Academy was renamed St. Benedict's Academy (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives ; McDonald, pages 70-71, 99-100).
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). As early as 1875, the sisters had begun to care for orphans in an informal way, but in 1884 the orphanage was incorporated under the laws of the State. Overcrowded conditions forced the sisters to transfer them from St. Cloud to St. Joseph and back again until it was decided to move the girls to the sisters' quarters in Pierz, Minnesota, and the boys were moved back to the old log church and school in St. Joseph. When the fire of 1886 destroyed the orphan home in St. Joseph, the sisters made room for the 23 orphan boys in other buildings on the premises. Finally, at the request of Bishop Otto Zardetti in 1893, the orphans were given to the care of the newly-founded community of Sisters of St. Francis in Little Falls. The Sisters at St. Benedict's, however, retained the familial atmosphere effected by the presence of the orphan children by opening the Bethlehem School for Little Boys as a department of St. Benedict's Academy; little girls,"minims," were housed with the academy students (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 122-123).
This document is an Augsburg Seminary diploma that was presented in the 1880s. The diploma includes an engraving of the seminary's original Main Building which was destroyed by fire sometime before 1900. Diploma reads: Augsburg Seminary; Minneapolis, Minn. ... 188 ; Eksamens-Testimonium fra Augsburg Seminariums theologiske Fakultet; Hr. Kand. theol. ... har underkastet sig Eksamen ved Augsburg Seminarium og kan vi efter denne Pröve give ham vor Anbefaling som ... til det kirkelige Loere- og Praedike-Embede. Translation of diploma: Augsburg Seminary; Minneapolis, Minn. ... 188 ; The Certificate of the Exam from Augsburg Seminary's theological faculty; Mr. Candidate of Theology ... has undergone the exam at Augsburg Seminary and after this test we can give him a recommendation as [qualified, highly qualified, exceptional] to the churchly office of teaching and preaching.
The five people pictured were all members of the First Methodist Church Choir; seated: Mr. Wilson (in chair), Bertha Schuster (in black dress), Nellie Bonham (higher seat); standing: Lulu Crouch, Bert Nichols.
This composite photograph shows the faculty and student body of Augsburg Seminary during one of the years in the 1880s. Note the fluted ""ruff"" collar that was typical for clergymen to wear in the Dano-Norwegian Lutheran church tradition.
Expansion of Monastery (1880-1909). As was the custom of Benedictine houses in the Old World, the sisters, from their beginnings in America, tried to be self-supporting. They maintained a farm, gardens, orchard, vineyard, chickens, turkeys, and bees. The laundry was an important service, not only for the sisters, orphans, and academy, but also for the monks of St. John's Abbey for whom the sisters did the washing and sewing. The first water works, a wooden water tank built in 1892, was a great boon to sisters who worked in the laundry. In 1899 an underground sewer was dug. New developments were soon added to meet the needs of the growing population on St. Benedict's campus and to help supply the village of St. Joseph. These developments included the first power plant and electric light plant (1906), a 60,000 gallon water tower (1907), and a large well in 1909 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
This is a photograph of Dr. John Sander, a Gustavus Adolphus College professor who helped found the First English Lutheran Church in St. Peter in 1892. The church is now known as Trinity Lutheran Church.