Annaheim, St. Anne's Parish

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Thus, on Aug. 13, 1903, Fr. Dominic took up residence with the Werner Halbach family until the first log church was finished. On Aug. 26, 1903, he took out the SW quarter of section two, Tsp 39, Range 20 as his homestead and on this parcel of land the new church was begun on Sept. 7, 1903.

Frank Schiltz, Andrew Stangel and Werner Halbach took over the construction of the church and residence, which was all one building. There was great joy when holy mass was offered in the new church on Nov. 15 of that same year. The dimensions of this church and residence together was 16 ft. x 44 ft. On Dec. 3 Fr. Dominic moved into his residence. His housekeeper was Miss Frances Hofmann, who later married Arnold Dauk. The first high mass was celebrated on Christmas Day in 1903. Since there was no organ, the people sang to the accompaniment of a guitar. On this day the first baptism also took place when Philip E. G. Winter, son of Philip and Frederica nee Kuemann, was baptized.

The first trustees of St. Ann's Parish were Frank Doepker, Emil Lachmuth, Philip Winter and John Lingnau. During the summer of 1904 a two storey house, 18 x 26, was erected with lumber brought all the way from Rosthern. The following summer the interior was completed. Two years later the church had to be enlarged with a 16 ft. x 20 ft. frame to accommodate the growing number of parishioners.

By 1908 St. Ann's Parish had 70 families and 56 single adults. The parishioners wanted a new church, and one really worthy of the worship of God. So in 1909, only six years after the first log church was built and three years after an addition had been put to that one, lumber was ordered. This time it came to St. Gregor.

John T. Schmitz undertook the building of the foundation early in spring. By June 24 Prior Bruno Doerfler blessed the cornerstone of the new church. The cost of the foundation was $324. Samuel Johnson and Michael Brunn took the contract to build the superstructure for the sum of $1,574. This church was 44 ft. x 102 ft. with a 108 foot high tower. It seems that Fr. Hugo Tell, OSB, of St. John's Abbey supervised the construction of the Gothic style church. The church was completed in record time and Fr. Peter Windschiegl, OSB, celebrated mass in it for the first time on Oct. 24, 1909. Fr. Dominic was absent due to illness.

Three bells were purchased for the new church. They were blessed by Bishop Pascal of Prince Albert, since at that time St. Peter's Priory was in the Prince Albert Diocese. The bells were given the names of St. Ann, Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph.

The blessing of the new church took place the following year on June 19. Bishop Pascal was present and blessed the church, while Fr. Dominic sang the high mass. This was also First Communion Sunday for 14 children of the parish. In the afternoon solemn vespers was sung and then Bishop Pascal confirmed 69 children, 37 boys and 32 girls. It is interesting to note that on May 25, 1911, 67 children made their first holy communion. Quite a large class for those early years.

Then on July 10, 1916, tragedy struck. A violent thunderstorm came up and lightning struck the tower of the church igniting it. Fortunately it was noticed and through the efforts of volunteer firefighters under the leadership of Joseph Aschenbrenner, Louis Schober and Joseph Langen, the fire was extinguished and the church was saved from complete destruction.

Abbot Michael Ott then appointed Fr. Joseph Wickel as pastor of Annaheim with St. Gregor as his mission. He was in Annaheim only four months when on March 2, 1923, fire broke out in the afternoon and the church was completely destroyed. A third church had to be built.

On July 23, 1923, excavation began on the church that was to serve the parish till the present church would be completed in 1959. This was a basement church 126ft. x 42 ft. Abbot Michael blessed the new cement structure on Sept. 14, 1924. The next day a funeral service was held in the church for Mrs. John Reiter who died after a short illness of only two days. She was 65 years old.

Fr. Joseph Wickel died on April 25, 1947. Fr. Aloysius Herriges was appointed administrator until Abbot Severin Gertken appointed Fr. Matthew Michel as pastor of Annaheim and St. Martin's. In September 1952, Fr. Matthew was sent to St. Boniface Parish, Leofeld, and Fr. Paul Kuehne moved in as parish priest. It was under his pastorship that the present church was built. Con Lang was general contractor. The church was blessed by Abbot Severin on Sunday, July 26. 1959 the feast of St. Ann.

There were eight schools in the Annaheim district: Arras, Harvest, Champlain, Bunker Hill, Hat Creek, Leavenworth, Schuler and Laurier later, the Annaheim school. The first seven were eventually amalgamated into the Annaheim school.

On May 31, 1917, Arras School District, with nine ratepayers and eight school age children, was proposed. On June 3, 1918, Miss Florence Gillies was hired at $75 a month. In March of 1961, the board voted to close the school students were to be bussed to Annaheim or Muenster.

On Jan. 11, 1941, Harvest school was formed. Twenty years later, in 1961, the school was closed and the students were bussed to Annaheim.

Champlain school was organized in 1913, and school opened June 4, 1914, with F.W. Pilbeam as teacher and 23 students. In 1962, the school was closed and students were bussed to Annaheim and Spalding. In 1918, Andrew Fouhse was elected to the board and remained on the board for 35 years.

Bunker Hill school was first mentioned in September 1910. The first annual meeting of the board was held in Annaheim on Jan. 25, 1913, with four members present. On Sept. 13, the department of education informed the board that Miss Elliek M. Reynolds had been issued a certificate to teach in Bunker Hill.

In 1947, Anton Holtvogt was hired to teach in Bunker Hill a position he held until 1969 when the school was closed and students were bussed to Annaheim; "Tony" moved into Annaheim to be vice principal until his retirement.

In 1906, six families living five miles northeast of Annaheim decided to build a school. In 1943, the original school burned down but by the fall of that year another school was built. Over the next few years the enrollment at Hat Creek jumped to 54 in 10 grades. In 1952, the school unit built a new Hat Creek school. In 1962 the school was closed and students were bussed to Annaheim.

The first Leavenworth school was built in 1905. In the mid 1930s the school was destroyed by fire and a new school was built. In 1961 the school was closed and students were bussed to Annaheim and Lake Lenore.

Schuler school started taking shape in 1906. The first board was elected in 1908. The name "Schuler" was chosen to honor pioneer Nick Schuler who acted as secretary on the first school board. The first school, which had been built for $669 by John Haas, burned down in 1918 when a prairie fire swept through the district. A new school was built and lasted until 1961 when students were bussed to Annaheim.

The Annaheim school district was formed at the February 1906 meeting chaired by Nick Kramer Sr. (a post he held for 44 years). The school was built for $792.75 by Arnold Dauk. The first teacher was Bernard Lennui.

In 1926, with growing enrollments, a two room school was needed and was built. In 1944 a third room was added. In 1961 a seven room addition was built across the street. Four more rooms were added in 1966, and two more high school rooms were added in 1970. In the 1980s a gymnasium was built.

In 1953 Alphonse Gerwing assumed the principalship until 1956 when Simon Lizee became principal and remained as principal until his retirement in 1985. Orville Theisen, who became vice principal upon the retirement of Tony Holtvogt, became principal.

Mention must also be made of the important role the Ursuline sisters from Bruno played in the parish when they came to Annaheim in August 1927 to teach in the school. The first ones were Srs. Ambrose, Perpetua and Gerharda as cook. They moved into the old parish house which had been cleaned but lacked furniture and a stove. In the porch were large boxes containing the beds, kitchen utensils and bare necessities. For the sisters the surroundings were very primitive indeed, but they settled in as quite happy missionaries.

Sr. Ambrose relates: "This was my first school, and my first experience of mission life and when I look back on those years I realize that these were the happiest memories of my convent life."

The $12,000 church was blessed by Abbot Michael Ott, OSB, on Oct. 16 1921. Dinner was served in the basement, and in the evening a German play was staged. In this way $2,000 was raised for the church.

A heavy blow for Fr. Bernard and the parish was the fire in the church on Sunday, Jan. 21, 1951. During the night a fire started in the basement heating system and burnt its way to the choir loft and through the roof at the southwest corner. It seems surprising that the building was saved. The fire was discovered by the janitor at 6:00 a.m., and by 7:00 they had a bucket relay carrying water from the rectory basement cistern to supply the fire engine.

About 150 men from the town managed to extinguish the fire, but the intense heat and the smoke caused heavy damage on both levels. The renovation was entrusted to Shannon Brothers of Saskatoon. In the process, the front facade and the entrance were changed, the stained glass windows were installed, and the top of the bell tower was modified. "The New Banner" newspaper of Oct. 15, 1951 states that the cost of the renovations was over $30,000 which included a new $2.500 heating system.

In 1936, Fr. Bernard reminded the parishioners that no one had died of a communicable disease since Fr. Chrysostom had begun the annual procession and prayers in 1914. He suggested that the parish honor the original vow to the Blessed Mother by building a shrine close to the cemetery. Therefore, a shrine was built and Count von Imhoff was commissioned to paint suitable works of art to decorate it.

The centre painting, 3 ft x 6 1/2 ft was of the Madonna and Child, and two smaller ones depicted the crowning of Mary and the death of St. Joseph. Due to the weather these paintings deteriorated badly, but were restored at considerable expense and are now mounted in the church. The church hall is also decorated with two beautiful still life of flowers by the same artist.

Our pastors over the years have been:
Chrysostom Hoffmann 1904-1917
Leo Ojdowski 1917-1927
Bernard Schaeffler 1927-1961
Edward Benning 1961-1968
Philip Loehr 1968-1969
Augustine Nenzel 1969-1970
Leo Hinz 1970-1971
Alfred Engele 1971-1973
Roman Schneider 1973-1986
Werner Renneberg 1986-1992
Martin Brodner 1992-1993
Leo Hinz 1993