Summer 2010
Marshall County
Photos by Tom Parker
St. Bridget Church a testament to the “fighting Irish”
By Tom Parker
The story goes (correctly or incorrectly doesn’t matter, so woven is it into the historical tableau that it will stand forever as an illuminated portrayal of legitimate rebellion against hierarchy or tyranny, or, perhaps, merely proof of the fabled irascibility of the Irish) that late one night in 1863 or 1864 a group of disgruntled parishioners gathered on the steps of a frame church a few miles north of Axtell and, by torchlight and heavy labor, jacked the church onto ox-drawn skids and absconded with it. Their destination was a point one mile north where they felt the church should have been sited. Halfway there the oxen tired, the skids broke, and a second group of incensed parishioners, all of whom felt the church had no business being relocated, blocked the road and threatened violence.
Decatur County
Photos by Shelby Haag
Faith on the plains: Immaculate Conception Catholic Church of Leoville
By Shelby Haag
Quietly nestled in a somewhat forgotten region of the plains, the twin bell towers of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church magnificently reach to the sky. Among the miles of spacious fields and level horizon, the grand church proudly stands as a symbol of the hard work, determination and faith of the rural community of Leoville.
Marshall County
Photos by Tom Parker
Still listening for the bell – preservation efforts underway for St. Michael’s Church
By Tom Parker
 It’s hard to believe there was ever a town here. All that remains of Kimeo, nine miles southwest of Greenleaf, are a few empty houses devolving back into the Kansas soil, a bullet-scarred sign welcoming visitors to a town with a “rising” population, a tree-shaded cemetery and a magnificent limestone church.
Douglass County
An Historic Look at the Vinland United Methodist Church
 By Barbara Higgins-Dover
Vinland is known to some as a “hamlet” or community that is smaller than a village. This rural destination, nestled north of Baldwin, is the home of a charming old structure, known as the Vinland United Methodist Church. Still standing in the same vicinity as its original structure, the church is located just off of county road DG 700.
Marshall County
Photos by Tom Parker
The way it should have been
By Tom Parker
To see St. Elizabeth Catholic Church now is to see it back in 1913 when its dedication drew people from miles around. The bell tower is the same, or almost—the open windows have been covered with louvers—with the same clean lines almost Spartan in simplicity. The white siding is an exact match for the painted clapboard of the original, with the same stained glass windows and same minuscule porch and same steep-pitched roof. What's different is an extension behind the sanctuary, noticeable only when compared to old grainy black-and-white photos. And the location, of course.
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