One Township's Yesterdays Chapter LI  

The Catholic Church

In the year 1897, the first catholic church in the township was built in the village of Culver. The edifice stood on a lot at the northeast corner of Lakeview Street and Lake Shore Drive , where CARL ADAMS now lives. In September, 1905, during a severe storm and midst a downpour of rain, the building was struck by lightning and burned to the ground.

The church was a frame building and had a rather small tower, above which rose a little steeple. There was a cross at the top of the steeple. The tower was provided with square, slatted ventilators at the sides. Birds had built their nests inside, and when the lightning struck, these nests were immediately set afire.

It was during a heavy storm on Friday evening, September 1, 1905, that the edifice was destroyed. The fire started in the very top of the steeple and was noticed by several persons from the start, but, from the lack of fire fighting equipment, they were powerless to do anything towards saving the church, and lent all their energies to saving nearby buildings. Since there was a heavy rain falling and no wind to speak of, it was easy to keep the fire from spreading. The fire company was out and did all that could be expected of any company with no more firefighting facilities at hand than they had.

When the storm came up, S. C. SHILLING was out driving. As he was putting his team into the stable toward the center of town, Mr. SHILLING thought it was his own home that was burning for it was right in line with the church when he drew up at the stable. Mr. SHILLING says that the lightning struck the church tower. It was a spectacular fire.

Culver was then a mission of the Catholic Church, connected with Monterey. It was in that parish, in St. Ann's Parish. After the church in Culver burned, the mission in this community was abandoned, and the church was not rebuilt.

Ed BERGMAN, now of Plymouth, bought the laud after the church was burned, and in August, 1912, erected a dwelling house thereon.

CHARLES HAYES remembers the church distinctly. He says at that time there were plank walks all over town and Lake presented a much different appearance from what it does now, thirty years since the church was destroyed.

Seasonal services were held at the church, and the last service for the summer of 1905 was held there on Sunday, August 26th, by Rev. JOSEPH BILSTEIN, of Monterey. Father BILSTEIN, as was customary, would come up from Monterey on Sundays to celebrate high mass at the church in Culver. The destruction of the edifice was a blow to him.

There were two priests associated with the Culver church: Father JOSEPH BILSTEIN, now of Tipton, Ind., and Father CHARLES THIELE, still living and now at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Fort Wayne. PETER KELLER, of south of Culver, who was one of the parishioners, says he does not know whether both were here while the church was standing. It is possible that Father THIELE built the church. One reads in the Culver Citizen of June 29, 1905, that Father THIELE, formerly pastor of St. Ann's Church, Monterey, was changed from Whiting to Fort Wayne about that time.

The SHEERINs of Indianapolis were also among the sponsors of the church at Culver.

Of special interest are the conditions appertaining to the establishment of the Catholic Church in Culver. The church was built on lot number 12 in the Vandalia Addition to the town of Uniontown. The property was conveyed, by warranty deed, by ANTON MAYER and SOPHIE MAYER, his wife, of Vigo County, Indiana, to Right Reverend JOSEPH RADEMACHER, Bishop of the diocese of Fort Wayne, May 39, 1897. The Bishop willed all his property to Right Reverend HENRY JOSEPH RICHTER, Bishop of Grand Rapids, Mich., to the Rt. Rev. IGNATIUS FREDERICK HORSTMANN, Bishop of Cleveland, Ohio, and the Very Rev. JOSEPH H. BRAMMER, of Fort Wayne, Ind., "to have and to hold in trust for the benefit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne."

Of these three trustees, Father BRAMMER later died. The Right Rev. HERMAN J. ALERDING succeeded Father RADEMACHER as Bishop (Fort Wayne) , who transferred the lot to EDWARD J. BERGMAN, of Marshall County, on January 23, 1912.