Alphonse Kubat, A Priest With a Past

By Charles Pederson

Father Alphonse Kubat, in retirement in St. Paul, MN. Photo provided by Fr. Michael Miller.

The path to priesthood is often preordained: go to school, enter seminary, become ordained, start serving as an ordinary priest. But even an ordinary priest may harbor hidden depths. Take Alphonse Kubat, priest of the Catholic Church and humble servant at churches in Scott County and surrounding areas. During his long life, Father Kubat was pressed into manual labor by the Nazi regime, struggled for religious freedom in Communist Czechoslovakia and finally found a new home in the United States, at Saint Wenceslaus Catholic Church in New Prague, Minnesota. Fellow priest Michael Miller said of his mentor, Fr. Kubat, “You’d never know he’d been through such terrible things in his life.” [1]

Growing Up Between the Wars

Born in August 1916 to Frank and Anna Kubat, Alphonse came of age during the period between world wars. He grew up in Frydlant, a town in northeast Czechoslovakia. The area had long been part of the double monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The monarchy controlled vast acreage throughout Europe. To maintain territorial integrity, the crown had kept its ethnic minorities under strict control. However, the assassination of the Austrian-Hungarian crown prince by an ethnic minority Serb lit the flame of world war. It also heralded the end of Austria-Hungary. And with the empire’s collapse after World War I, many new countries gained the freedom to emerge. Czechoslovakia, a new democracy, was one of these new countries.

One wonders what led Alphonse to the priesthood. Perhaps he was affected by people’s stories of the war or the presence of hundreds of thousands of Czech war wounded. In the devastation of World War I, as many as 150,000 Czechs had fought and died for the Austrian-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef. [2] This was about 10% of the entire Czech military contingent. Perhaps Alphonse was influenced by the example of his uncle Alphonse Kotouc, an ordained priest who served in Minnesota. Whatever the reason, young Alphonse determined to become a priest himself and enrolled in the regional seminary in the town of Hradec Kralove.

The Insanity of World War II

In Czechoslovakia, the insanity of the next war began in 1938. That year the German Nazi military annexed the Sudetenland. This border region of Czechoslovakia contained a majority of ethnic Germans. Adolf Hitler argued they were endangered and needed protection. Negotiating the Munich Pact with Britain, France, and Italy, Germany was allowed to occupy the Sudetenland unopposed. [3]

Only months later, in March 1939, Nazi armies invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia to “restore order”[4] and make it part of so-called greater Germany. Czechoslovakia as a separate country ceased to exist.

Catholics became a special target of the Nazis. Many Catholic institutions were shuttered. Between 350 and 500 priests were arrested, of whom numerous were executed or died in prison or concentration camps.

New anti-Catholic laws forced Alphonse to end his theological studies. The Nazis instead pressed him into manual labor. When injured in a woodworking accident, he was released from the work gang. Despite Nazi oppression, Alphonse completed his religious training. He was ordained in June 1942, at age 25. The newly minted Father Kubat was installed as assistant pastor in a town an hour southeast of Prague. The war ended in two years later.

Postwar Religious Oppression

The vagaries of war left Czechoslovakia in the Soviet zone of influence. By the late 1940s, Soviet-supported communists controlled the Czech government. Official relations with the Vatican broke off in 1950, and the persecution of Catholics that had already begun accelerated.

Fr. Kubat was one of the many priests who suffered directly under the communist regime. Along with many other religious persons—both male and female—Fr. Kubat in 1953 received a prison sentence. He was housed  for two years in a “concentration monastery” in Valdice, Czechoslovakia. [5] Ironically the prison was in a former monastery that had been established in 1627. In 1857, the grounds had been converted into a prison for convicts with terms of 10 years to life. [6]

Catholic practice was officially allowed only by “licensed” priests, [7] who were considered state employees. Any other practice of the religion had to be conducted secretly. During the time of Fr. Kubat’s incarceration, communion (or the Eucharist) was secretly offered only five times because of the difficulty of obtaining the elements. Raisins picked from bread were soaked in water to create a “wine,” and a spoon was used as the “chalice.” [8] Bread serving as a communion wafer might be wrapped in cigarette paper for concealment. If a fellow prisoner informed on the priests, or if guards discovered that religious rites were being performed, their belongings might be taken away. Fr. Kubat himself was punished once with six weeks of solitary confinement. Fortunately, not all guards were equally zealous in their duties. Through lingering loyalty to the church or perhaps through bribery or sheer laziness, they might look the other way. [9]

Fr. Kubat was freed from prison in 1955. Because the government considered him unreliable at best—and certainly not a good communist—he still could not publicly perform his priestly duties. Instead, he was assigned to a construction crew and worked in a steel factory for nearly 15 years. [10] Any religious activities had to remain secret. As he already knew, priests performing their duties risked potentially severe punishment.

Prague Spring and What Followed

Early 1968 was a time of social ferment in Europe. In Czechoslovakia, widespread public demonstrations led to the fall of a hardline communist government. This left room for the reformer-socialist Alexander Dubcek. He took leadership of the government in April. Dubcek advocated for “socialism with a human face”: an opening of the tightly controlled economy and expansion of freedom of speech. Initially, Czechs feared that the Soviet Union would react angrily to a reform government. The worst did not happen, and  the Soviets remained on the sidelines. The period was optimistically known as Prague Spring.

Finally, the Dubcek government crossed a line. It expressed interest in possibly leaving the Soviet-controlled military alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. This was unacceptable to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. In August, Brezhnev ordered 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia. Dubcek was arrested, and his brief experiment in a less repressive socialism ended. [11]

Leaving an Old Home, Finding a New One

Seeing a lack of world reaction to the Soviet crackdown in his homeland, Fr. Kubat believed that things would not improve for the Czech religious community. In the chaos of the end of Prague Spring, he, along with several hundred thousand others, left Czechoslovakia. Fr. Kubat landed in neutral Vienna, Austria.

Fr. Kubat’s new religious home was a beautiful neoclassical church, Saint Nicholas. The building was located in Inzersdorf, on the southwest edge of Vienna. The bright white exterior of the compact building was beautiful. The celestial architecture echoed the inscription above the church’s entry: “Domus Dei Porta Coeli” (“God’s House, Gate of Heaven”). [12] Fr. Kubat must have felt inspired. Inspiration alone, however, was not enough to bind him to Europe.

About a year later, Fr. Kubat applied to emigrate from Austria into the United States. His application was approved, and Fr. Kubat arrived in New York City in mid-1969. After serving briefly at a church in North Dakota and for 15 years in Veseli, Minnesota, he was sent to the nearby Saint Wenceslaus parish in New Prague, Minnesota.

Aerial view of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, New Prague, circa 1935. Image in the SCHS Collection.

Czechs had settled parts of LeSueur, Scott, and Rice Counties, in southern Minnesota, in the 1850s. New Prague, the oldest Czech colony in Minnesota (founded 1856), [13] was the approximate center of the area. [14] Fr. Kubat’s uncle Alphonse Kotouc had overseen the erection of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Veseli. [15] That family connection, along with the area’s strong Czech background, must have helped Fr. Kubat settle in to his position.

The final step in Fr. Kubat’s Europe-to-Minnesota odyssey occurred in July 1974. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, proudly displaying the certificate on his wall.

A Humble Servant’s Life

Having served in several other parishes, Fr. Kubat retired to Saint Paul in 1991 and died of cancer in January 2006. It had been a long journey from the upheaval and destruction of the first half of his life. But he was so happy to be able to be a priest.

Fr. Kubat showed real heroism and unshakable optimism in overcoming so many barriers to practice his faith. Fr. Michael Miller, however, quoted his friend’s modesty: “‘Do not say that I was a saint or a great priest.’ . . . His greatest joy was finally being able to act as a priest freely and without fear. . . . Having been deprived of exercising his priesthood for most of his life gave him an appreciation of it from which we can all learn.  Perhaps that is why he was so joyful.” [16] Fr. Kubat is buried at Saint Scholastica Cemetery in Heidelberg, Minnesota.

Fr. Kubat celebrates Mass. Photo provided by Fr. Michael Miller.

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End Notes

[1] Scott, S. (2006, January 4). Priest Endured Europe’s Worst: Czech Nazi, Communist Imprisonments Preceded His Flight to Freedom in America. St. Paul Pioneer Press, n.p., para. 2.

[2] Many Czech WWI Graves Neglected, Says Member of History Buffs’ Group. (2014, June 21). Radio Prague International. https://english.radio.cz/many-czech-wwi-graves-neglected-says-member-history-buffs-group-8292384

[3] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.) Hitler’s Foreign Policy, “Key Events,: para. 6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z92hw6f/revision/4

[4] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). Hitler’s Foreign Policy, “The Final Destruction of Czechoslovakia—1939,” para. 3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z92hw6f/revision/4

[5] Fiala, M. (Ed.). (n.d.). Czech Republic, the Catholic Church in the, “The Church Since 1945,” para. 7. Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/czech-republic-catholic-church.

[6] Correctional Facility Valdice (Kartouzy). (2009). Wikimapia. http://wikimapia.org/11412690/Correctional-facility-Valdice-Kartouzy

[7] Fiala, M. (Ed.). (n.d.). Czech Republic, the Catholic Church in the, “The Church Since 1945,” para. 7. Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/czech-republic-catholic-church.

[8] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf

[9] Valdice Prison. (n.d.). A Communion Wafer Was a Piece of a Bun Wrapped in Cigarette Paper (Hostie, to byl kousek housky v cigaretovém papírku), para. 1. https://www.mistapametinaroda.cz/?lc=en&id=413

[10] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf.

[11] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.) The Cold War, 1961-1972, “Events of the Prague Spring,” paras. 1-3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zsfwhv4/revision/5 

[12] Pfarre St. Nikolaus. (n.d.) Kirchengebaeude, para. 1. https://www.pfarresanktnikolaus.at/wp/?page_id=26

[13] Landsberger, J. D. (n.d.). Gateway to a New World: Building Czech and Slovak Communities in the West End, p. 19. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjmg975ibjxAhUBVc0KHRVFBH4QFjAQegQICxAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.josfland.com%2Fgardens%2Fgateway%2520small.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2KgbGOo32e53XOd8iRKWAL

[14] U.S. Department of the Interior. (1997, October). Church of the Most Holy Trinity (Catholic) [National Register of Historic Places Application Form]. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiK14m-krjxAhXVU80KHf5GB5QQFjACegQIBBAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FGetAsset%2F9aac0eb3-afc6-4804-a109-1ae4c9e578f7&usg=AOvVaw1YVGi_tbOdFndEZD9JIiLq

[15] Scott, S. (2006, January 4). Priest Endured Europe’s Worst: Czech Nazi, Communist Imprisonments Preceded His Flight to Freedom in America. St. Paul Pioneer Press, n.p., para. 2.

[16] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf

Fish Lake Immanuel Lutheran Church

Print of Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1971. From the SCHS Collections.

Early European American settlers in Spring Lake Township township included a group of Lutherans of German descent who came by way of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois. For their first ten years in Scott County, this group met for religious services in a log cabin in Bellefontaine - a settlement in the southeast corner of section five near Spring Lake. Lots were platted in Bellafontaine, and a few were sold, but it never grew into a town. These services were conducted by pastors riding circuit. 

Eventually the congregation outgrew the cabin. On December 17th, 1870, 2.5 acres on the north bank of Fish Lake were purchased for a new church. They were sold by Henry and Ann McCartney for $37.50. The first pastor of the new church was Henry Raedeke from Carver who served for 15 years. Soon after his arrival, the first church was built on the site for appx. $1000.00

Over time, this structure became cramped as well, and in 1926 money was raised by the congregation for a new building which still serves today. The present church was built under Rev. Karl Schroeder and dedicated on May 9 1926. The dedication program included a supper cooked by the ladies of the congregation, and a performance by “a male quartet of fine male singers” iin German and English

A January 1926 article in the Jordan Independent describes Rev. Schroeder as an “energetic and popular pastor”, and the new church thusly” “Located on a south frontage, giving a fascinating view of the pretty sheet of water known as Fish Lake. It is of an architectural style very pleasing to the eye of the beholder.” The building site for the new church was The site was part of the homestead of Civil War Veteran David Maloney.

Fish Lake Immanuel Lutheran still welcomes worshipers Saturdays and Sundays in the historic 1926 church.

St Joe's Church, Sand Creek

The St Joseph Catholic Church was said to have been the focal point of the community of St Joe. Jeanette Robling, a lifelong resident of Sand Creek Township, said in 1887, “It was really the church that made the community. There never was a business district. All community centered around the church.”

St Joe’s Church was located at the intersection of county roads 71 and 10 in Sand Creek. The story goes that a group of early settlers wrote to the Bishop in St Paul to request permission to build a local church. They heard that their request might be refused because of their proximity to Jordan which was also building a Catholic church at the time. Supposedly, a farmer came out with his wagon to meet the Bishop when he came to inspect the area. Instead of taking a direct route back to the community of St Joe, the farmer drove the Bishop along a circuitous and bumpy back route. St Joe seemed farther from Jordan then it actually was, and the Bishop gave permission for the church to be built. 

St Joe’s Church was established in 1858, with the first day of work on January 11th. It was built entirely by community volunteers and, due to farming and family obligations, was not finished until the following October. The original building was a 24’x35’ log cabin, not dissimilar to the residences in St Joe at the time. The first priest was Father Eberhard. In 1860 a bell, cast in St Louis, was purchased for the church by the local Young Men’s Society

In 1873, this cabin was replaced by a sandstone church building. For the next two years the priest was Father Duestermann. After that the Franciscan Order took over church management.

Exterior of St Joe’s Church. From the Prior Lake American, September 7th, 1987

In 1874 a school opened on site, run by an order of nuns, with 60 students in attendance. The school consisted of only two rooms, with two teachers on staff. Attendance for each student averaged only 50-60 days per year due to farm work, illness and weather. By 1883, 106 children were enrolled. Unfortunately, this proved to be a difficult year for the school. Several students died in an epidemic, and the school closed for a large portion of the year as a protective measure. In 1884, the nuns retired and the building became the District 22 public school. The building was still shared with the church for religious instruction until 1947. It remained in operation until 1960, when the district combined with Jordan. 

A tower was added to St Joe’s Church in 1925, and electric lights were installed in 1938. The church held its first “annual bazaar” in celebration. 

St Joe’s Church stood for over 100 years. The last mass in the building was held in June of 1971, and officiated by Father Rogers. Many in the congregation were sad to see the church go. There was actually a lawsuit around the decision, based on the fact that the original donors of the land had given it for “church, charitable and educational purposes.” The final ruling was that when the deed was turned over to the Franciscan Order in 1875, this original intent was voided, and the church could be closed and the land sold. 

Items from inside the church were auctioned off in February of 1972, and the resulting funds were put into place to preserve the church cemetery. The old teachers residence was torn down to provide parking. Finally, the church itself was removed in 1988. 

In June of 1989 a memorial to the church was dedicated on site featuring the old church bell. The inscription reads “St Joseph's Catholic Church. On this spot stood St Joseph's Catholic Church. This monument is dedicated in memory of those who worshiped here and supported the church for 113 years. The bell is original. The stone and brick are from the church.” 

The end of the church also marked the end of St Joe. Never a large community, it began to disperse after the church closed. Today it is considered a ghost town. 

On the Hunt…

This summer the Scott County Historical Society turns 50 years old. To commemorate our golden anniversary, we are having a summer full of events, festivals, and grand picnic (August 25th), and we have launched the Great Summer History Scavenger Hunt!

Visit 10 historic locations (or as many as you can) in Scott County before our 50th anniversary picnic! Take a picture at each one and email it to us (info@scottcountyhistory.org). Complete the quest and you will win…

• A prize at our 50th anniversary picnic

• The chance to have your photos featured in an upcoming exhibit

• everlasting fame and glory.

The great hunt has already spawned stories. A woman and her father have been visiting a new town’s locations each day and are trying new restaurants. A family has been making a summer scrapbook with their photos. To augment those tales, here are some of the stories behind the 10 Scott County locations you will visit as you complete your summer adventure:

Location 1: The Stans House/ Scott County Historical Society – Shakopee

The Stans House was built in 1908 by Hubert Stans. It is constructed in the Dutch Colonial Style, popular at the time. One of our long-serving volunteers recounted visiting the house while she was girl, but sad she never got past the kitchen because Mrs. Stans didn’t want young folks mussing up the rest of her house. Luckily, today you can visit the whole lower floor. It has been restored giving visitors peek at what life was like for a middle class family in Scott County near the turn of the 20th century. Inside you can wind a Victrola, learn how an icebox works, and recline on a fainting couch. If you are interested in touring the house, be sure to call us and make an appointment in advance- 952.445.0378.

Next door to the Stans House is the Scott County Historical Society. Inside the building is used for a wide variety of  purposes. We have rotating exhibit galleries: currently you can learn about Scott County in WW1, toursim in Scott County, American Indians of the area, and the history of the Stans Family. Coming soon are exhibits on sports in the county, and the use of tools to build Scott County. The building is also home to a  research library featuring the lineup of newspapers throughout county history, subject folders, historic maps, county books, and a card catalog to help you track down your family’s history. The museum and library are open:
Tuesday , Wednesday and Friday- 9am to 4pm
Thursday- 9am to 8pm
Saturday- 10am to 3pm
Come pay us a visit!

Location 2: Veterans Memorial- Shakopee

Located off of highway 101, Memorial Park is Shakopee’s largest. The 147 acre park features picnic shelters, friendly mill-pond ducks, multiple playgrounds and shady walking paths. Centrally located is an AH-1F Cobra helicopter. The design was prominently used during the Vietnam war, and now serves as a sculptural tribute to Shakopee’s veterans.

Location 3: Mudbaden (now called the SCALE Training Facility)- Jordan

Mudbaden was a health spa founded by Ose Rosendahl in 1906. Around 1900, a peddlers cart and horse got stuck in the mud while trying to pass through Rosendahl’s property. As they worked together to free the cart. As they labored in the mud, the murky ground began to release sulfurous fumes. Rather than be offput by the smell, the men realized that Rosendahl had a business opportunity on his hands. The smelly mud was believed to have health benefits, and mud spas were making money throught Europe at the time. Rosendahl began cooking up mud treatments in his kitchen, and soon “Rosendahl Sulpher Springs” was born. 

By 1910 a new building was built to house up to 70 people who had come to visit the restorative mud. The sight was renamed Mudbaden, and it began to become a serious tourist attraction. By 1912, ten plus trains were stopping at the site each day.

In 1914 the modern brick building was built with a capacity of 200 visitors. Mudbaden was a true resort, with dancing, music, parties, movies and banquets complimenting mud treatments. The facility continued to grow, acquiring the rival Jordan Sulpher Springs site in 1925. It continued to host a steady clientele until the 1940s when medical advances made mud treatments seem out of vogue. Mudbaden finally closed it’s doors for good in 1952, but the beautiful structure created for the mud baths still stands. Now known as the SCALE regional training facility, Mudbaden is located at 17706 Valley View Dr and is a pleasant bike ride from Jordan.

Location 4: Ambrose Friedman Cabin – Jordan

One of the oldest European American homes still standing in Scott County. It was being used as a storage shed, but was purchased, restored and moved to its present location by Clement Nachbar in memory of his parents, Mathias Nachbar and Wilhelmina Mertens Nachbar, who settled near Jordan in 1855. The cabin is now open as a museum on Memorial Day and for special events. The cabin is found at the intersection of Water st and Varner st, near downtown Jordan

Location 5: Episcopal Church of the Transformation – Belle Plaine

The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, an Episcopal church building in Belle Plaine,  is a Carpenter Gothic style building with wooden buttresses. Sometimes referred to as a “prairie Gothic” church, it was built in 1868 for English-speaking parishioners, but most of the rural residents at the time were German and Irish immigrants who brought their own languages and religious practices with them. The result was a church building that struggled to attract worshipers for 80 years before the beautiful church was abandoned. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Memories, details and stories about the church can be found in the book “What Happened Here: A History of the Episcopal Church of the Transfigoraton” by Lee Howard Smith, available at the Scott County Historical Society. Here is a taste, recalled by Hinrietta Hillstrom Smith: 

I have many memories of this church. I remember the early services at 7am with the early morning sun streaming through the east window above the alter with its beautiful colored glass. I remember the 5pm services during the winter months when the church had to be heated. The fires were started during the morning and kept going most of the day in order to get it warm enough to spend an hour at service. Later to save time and heat services were held in the Vestry. I had a round oak stove which wasn’t being used that I loaned to the church, some benches were moved in, a small table with white linen was used as an alter. It provided warmth and since there were so few people there was a closeness, and a closeness to God.

The Episcopal Church of the Transformation is at 201 N Walnut St in Belle Plaine

Location 6: Two Story Outhouse – Belle Plaine

The Hooper–Bowler–Hillstrom House was built in 1871 in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, United States, by Sandford A. Hooper, a local businessman and promoter of the town. By 1886 it was sold to Samuel Bowler, a founder of the State Bank of Belle Plaine and lumber-yard owner. Bowler added a new kitchen, buttery, and , most famously, a five-hole, two-story outhouse that is connected to the house via a skyway. He also added a copper-lined bathtub. When the Bowlers moved to Denver, Colorado in 1901, the clapboard frame house was sold to Alfred Hillstrom whose family lived in the house until it was purchased in 1975 by the Belle Plaine Historical Society. The house is now furnished in a variety of periods that reflect its long life. It is open for tours from 1-4pm on Sundays between Memorial day and Labor day. Find the Hooper-Bowler-Hilstrom house along with its famous toilet at Court Square Park in Belle Plaine

Location 7: New Market Hotel and Store – Elko New Market

The Elko New Market Hotel and Store was built by Joesph Baltes in 1897. The building was originally given the cozy name of Home Hotel, and featured a first floor tavern with sleeping rooms upstairs. The hotel served visitors a business people traveling throughout the region. It also was a local social gathering place, holding suppers during dances at the Village Hall, and as a place to meet with locals and visitors.
The hotel was typical of its time, with no electricity, and the owners living on site in the back of the first floor barroom. Laundry services were also offered for a small fee, and the owner’s wife would start washing sometimes as early as 3 O’clock.

Today the building still looks the same as it did in 1897, though with some different paint around the old windows, and big green sign on the front. . Visitors to the hotel today can walk up the double-wide staircase and peek into original rooms, each with a different theme which constantly changes. The current operators of the hotel maintain six rooms that visitors can see. The first floor is still a shop that is open periodically throughout the year.

Visit the Elko New Market Hotel and Store at 441 Main St, New Market, MN

Location 8: Church of Saint Wenceslaus – New Prague

The group of immigrants who settled New Prague had originally settled around Dubuque, Iowa, but many of them died of cholera. Four men from the community traveled up the Mississippi River to Saint Paul, in search of a healthier climate. They met with Catholics in the area who advised them that Benedictines from Saint John’s Abbey near Saint Cloud, Minnesota, were helping settlers find land. The explorers from the Czech community got lost, though, and ended up following the Minnesota River to Shakopee instead. They found that there was ample land to the south, so the four men purchased land and brought their families north from Iowa.

The parish of St. Wenceslaus was organized in 1856, and a log church was built the following year. The log church was destroyed by fire in 1864, so a more permanent building was erected in 1866, built of brick and stone. As the parish grew, though, more room was needed. Father Francis Tichy (pictured) directed the building of the new church, which was designed by St. Paul architect Hermann Kretz. Archbishop John Ireland dedicated the new building on July 7, 1907.

Brick and Kasota limestone were used for constructing the spacious building. It dominates the skyline of the small city of New Prague, measuring 165 by 67 feet , with two towers that rise 110 feet. The architectural style combines neoclassical and Romanesque architectural styles, and is based on a church in Prague. Czech Republic. The church, rectory, and school were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Location 9: Train Depot – New Prague

One of the most important developments in the new village occurred in 1877 when the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway (M & St. L) reached New Prague. The arrival of the railroad era expedited agriculture as New Prague’s most important industry. A link with the outside world enabled farmers to send their commodities to markets and created a conduit to bring inventory to the village’s businesses. Just four years after the M & St. L reached New Prague, the first grain elevator and flour mill were completed, marking the beginning of New Prague earning its nickname, the “Flour City.”

The historic New Prague Train Depot is still standing next to the flour mill on 2nd ave in New Prague

Location 10: Your Hometown History!

For site number 10, choose a place that has historic significance to you or your family. It could be a home that goes back generations, or simply a place that you enjoy today. Take a picture and share your story with us- these stories are what make history come alive. 

Please join us in the 2018 summer history hunt- and share your pictures and stores with is at info@scotthistory.org, even if you are unable to make it to every site. Happy hunting!