St. Anthony's HISTORY BY DECADES |
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1904 at St. Anthony's Assistants to Fr. Kaul are Rev. Augustin Kappes and Rev. Charles Pietrowicz. The church was finally paid for and consecrated in 1895. Immediately thereafter, Fr. Kaul planned the Institute building which has been erected to the east of the church on parish grounds. By 1904 the St. Anthony Institute is in full operation, especially the dramatic presentations that are performed in the third floor auditorium. Our archive contains programs and photographs from many of the shows including one called The Steel King performed on January 27, with music provided by Edward Bentz’s orchestra. The Bentz family was prominent in the early days of the parish with every member involved in some ministry to benefit the church. Their home at 536 East Chestnut Street was the gathering place for the Lyceum group, a debating society for young men and women of the parish. Sad to say, The Steel King is the last show for Edward Bentz, who dies of typhoid on May 9 of the same year. He is 25. A publication entitled The Parish Kalendar is printed. It is called “a magazine of interest, informative to members of the parish.” Obviously, Fr. Kaul is still employing ways to improve the parish funds since the magazine includes some interesting information about pew rents. Most pews are rented by the quarter, but there are some pews that are reserved for non-renters, and for these, people can pay either 10 cents or 5 cents, depending on their need. There are even some free pews in the back for really needy people. The 11:00 Mass on Sundays is reserved for children. Adults who wish to attend must pay 10 cents at the door to get in. This is also the period of time when Pope Pius X issues the decree that there are to be no female voices in choirs. Fr. Kaul ignores this. St. Anthony parish choir is heavily dependent on the women who comprise it. The pastor is well aware of this fact. |
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The St. Anthony buildings in 1904. The rectory (left) was completed in 1896. Note the pointed roof on the St. Anthony's Institute (right, today's Resurrection Catholic School) which was completed in 1895. |
The St. Anthony's Lyceum Executive Council of 1902. Photo was taken in the third floor auditorium of the Institute. Left to right front row: Flora Ursprung, Mary Long, and Lewraine Magee; middle row: Anna Dosch, Elizabeth Eppley, Anna Kempfle, David Magee, Fr. Kaul, H. John Hoemenz, Carrie Allwein, Agnes Hiemenz, and Mary Dosch; back row: Oscar Smith, John Drachbar, Robert Allwein, George Ransing, Edward Bentz, Frank Matt, William Ewing, Harry Hiemenz, Harry Seifert, and William Cosgrove. |
1914 at St. Anthony's Assistants to Fr. Kaul are Rev. Herman Gies, Rev. Denis Reardon, and Rev. Stanislaus Dobinis; the St. Anthony parish basketball team consists of Paul Ransing, Francis Heidig, Raymond Teufel, Joseph McGreever, and Richard Brickner; St. Anthony rectory, built in 1896, is painted and papered by Mattern and Yeager Company at a cost of $275; Charles Keen is janitor; $355 is earned during the strawberry festival; $500 is realized after the Men’s Supper; assistant priest Fr. Herman Gies leaves in July and is replaced by Fr. Denis Reardon; there are 112 boys and 118 girls in the school; a fire escape is built onto the school at the cost of $150. It is in August of 1914 that the Redemptorist Fathers take possession of the Clare Point Stock Farm in Ephrata. The farm is bought from Clare L. Willson and consists of 81 acres including a mansion house (which cost $50,000 to build,) four houses, two barns, and two quarter-mile horse tracks. Monsignor Kaul is instrumental in coordinating arrangements for the purchase among Mrs. Willson, Bishop John Shanahan and Very Rev. Joseph Schnaeder, C.Ss.R., Provincial of the US and Canada. The Redemptorists still retain possession of the property in Ephrata with the parish of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Michael Haberbush, one of the three original donors for St. Anthony parish, dies on October 26. Mr. Haberbush has been the owner of a harness shop on the square in Lancaster. The Haberbush family is prominent both in the history of the parish and the support of Sacred Heart Academy. He dies in the home of his daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Dr. L. Chadman. Mr. Haberbush has an impressive history. The story of his family can be read in the archives. |
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A group of 1914 St. Anthony school student assembled on the church steps. |
Attendees of Mass celebrated at St. Clement's Mission House in Ephrata, PA circa 1914. |
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Michael Haberbush |
Buildings in the southwest corner of Penn Square, Lancaster, PA circa 1914. Note the Haberbush business at the far left. |
Fr. Eberle and Msgr. Kaul relaxing during a 1924 parish picnic in Williamson Park.
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1924 in St. Anthony's Pastoral assistants are Rev. John Weber, Rev. Cletus Helfrich, and Rev. John Eberle. Msgr. Kaul once again uses his influence to negotiate the sale of the Dray Farm near Columbia to the Sisters of the Precious Blood (it will become St. Anne’s Home); the pastor continues to ignore the dictate about women in the choir and turns over the operation of the organ to Edna Rooney Frailey, assisted by Cecilia Drachbar. A new hall has been built as an extension of the St. Anthony Institute. Since the upper floor of the building was destroyed in a fire in 1915, the parish had been compelled to use the basement church for their dramatic productions until this time. Rebuilding the stage on an upper floor was deemed a fire hazard, so it was decided to form an extension onto the school extending north toward Marion Street. This extension included a gym/auditorium that is sill in use today. It was completed in 1922. William Bentz was the contractor. St. Anthony girls’ basketball team, the Blue Birds, makes extensive use of the new gym, with the coaching of Edgar Musser. Msgr. Kaul celebrates 55 years as a priest; pastoral assistant, Rev. John H. Weber, wins a $9000 Zook-built home in Glen Moore Circle in Lancaster for selling subscriptions to Lancaster newspapers. He earns 100 million credits. Fr. Weber gives the home to his mother, Rosa Weber, of 511 Poplar Street. Fr. Weber is Msgr. Kaul’s most dynamic assistant—and one of the longest-lasting. Weber has been at St. Anthony’s for seven years. (In his 60 years at St. Anthony Church, Msgr. Kaul had 42 assistants.) Certainly the bowling league has appreciated Fr. Weber for his 180.46 average. The assistant could actually be seen at times performing manual labor to build the parish hall. He has also played in the parish orchestra and directed some dramatic shows including An Old Fashioned Mother, which is performed on January 15. This play is acclaimed as the finest ever to be presented in the parish. Charles H.B. Chambers is featured in a starring role. It is no wonder that Msgr. Kaul names Fr. Weber “the best,” when Weber leaves at the end of 1924 to take over the pastorate of St. John’s in Steelton. |
The 1924–25 St. Anthony's Girls' "Blue Birds" basketball team. This team played boys' inter-collegiate rules. Left to right, front row: Margaret Keen and Frances Toland; middle: Cecelia Drach-bar (who was also the church organist), Berna-dette Reiner, Ruth Ream, Ava Huber, and Elizabeth Resh; top: Coach Edgar A. Musser, Frances Greenawalt, Catherine Resh, Dorothy Miller, and Marguerite Greenawalt, team manager. Visit the 1923 Girls' Team picture.
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The cast of the 1924 box office success An Old Fashioned Mother, directed by Rev. John H. Weber. Left to right, front row: Fred Flick, Carolyn Seber, Charles H.B. Chambers, C. Herbert Yost, Agnes Ziegler, Charles A. Keen, Emma Heil, Anthony Tretter, Cecelia Drachbar, Mrs. Frank Goldbach; rear: Patrick Hagan, Esther Weber, Dorothy Miller, Gervase Long, Bernadette Reiner, Donald Herzog, Fr. Weber, Herman Seber, Mary Flick, Josephine Eisch, Mary Dochat, and Mary Daum. |
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