NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States … of the Cross Reduced_tcm36-388885.pdf“The Agony of the Cross,” and the Lady of Lourdes Grotto, one building, the Chapel of Our

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.

1. Name of Property Historic name: ____The Way of the Cross_________________________________ Other names/site number: __ ____________________________________________

Name of related multiple property listing: ___________________________________________________________ (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ____________________________________________________________________________

2. Location Street & number: _1500 Fifth St. North _________________________ City or town: _New Ulm___________ State: ___MN________ County: _Brown________ Not For Publication: Vicinity:

____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide ___local

Applicable National Register Criteria: ___A ___B ___C ___D

Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government

In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria.

Signature of commenting official: Date

Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government

N/A N/A

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

The Way of the Cross Brown County MN Name of Property County and State _____________________________________________________________________________

4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________

______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action

____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification

Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.)

Private:

Public – Local

Public – State

Public – Federal

Category of Property (Check only one box.)

Building(s)

District

Site

Structure

Object

x

x


The Way of the Cross Brown County MN Name of Property County and State

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Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count)

Contributing Noncontributing ____1________ _____________ buildings

____1________ _____________ sites ____16____ ______4______ structures _____________ _____________ objects ___ 18_______ ______4______ Total

Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register _________ ____________________________________________________________________________

6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.)

_RELIGION: Religious Facility: Shrine__ ___________________ ___________________

Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.)

_RELIGION: Religious Facility: Shrine_ _ __________________ ___________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

7. Description

Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) _ LATE VICTORIAN: ROMANESQUE ___________________ ___________________

Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: FOUNDATION: Stone, Concrete WALLS: Brick ROOF: Concrete, Wood



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Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph

The Way of the Cross is located on a 3.5-acre site on bluffs northwest of the downtown commercial center of New Ulm, Minnesota, a city of 15,000 residents on the Minnesota River. Known as St. Jacob’s Hill, the site is adjacent to New Ulm Medical Center. The property is locally designated as historic by the New Ulm Heritage Preservation Commission.

The nomination consists of eighteen contributing resources and four noncontributing resources. There are sixteen contributing structures – including fourteen stations, one similar brick structure titled, “The Agony of the Cross,” and the Lady of Lourdes Grotto, one building, the Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother on the top of the hill, and one contributing site, which includes the path and landscape. The noncontributing structures include shrines to Mary and St. Francis, placed on the lower path after the period of significance. The outdoor lighting system and the cast metal fence on the east side of the first 100 yards of the path were installed around 2002 and are considered noncontributing structures. _____________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description

The site is reached via Fifth Street North, with a large paved parking lot at the entrance. In 2000 the Diocese of New Ulm developed Loretto Park on the property next to the street, just west of the parking lot. This includes installation of interpretive markers, walking paths, and a statue of Rev. Alexander Berghold. Adjacent to the property on the east is the New Ulm Health Center, a large complex on the site of the former Loretto Hospital. (Photo #2) Across Fifth Street, on the southern side, there is a two-story brick house.

The Way of the Cross begins in the parking lot, marked with a sign, with the main path reached by a series of concrete steps. (Photo #1) These steps were built around 1956-57. At the same time, a shrine to the Virgin Mary was added at the entrance. The path, roughly six feet wide, gradually rises along the slope of St. Jacob’s Hill, a name given this portion of the Minnesota River bluff by Alexander Berghold. The site is shaded with deciduous trees, as well as wildflowers and perennials. The foot path distance from the parking lot to the chapel is approximately 770 feet and extends from the southeast (parking lot) to the northwest (chapel). With concerns about serious erosion, in 1927, the Poor Handmaids contracted to add a concrete retaining wall just downslope from the path and behind the stations. (Photo #17) Built in 1927, it was intended to prevent erosion. The path, with brick pavers, is lined with a low stone border, roughly one foot high. The current lighting system was installed around 2002. Through the trees there are views of the city and, notably, Holy Trinity Cathedral. (Photo #18)



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The first 100 feet of the pathway was altered in 2002-03 with the addition of a stone retaining wall on the west side and a cast metal fence on the east side. (Photo #3) On the wall, Artstone cast urns/ flower pots decorate the top roughly every ten feet.

The fourteen Stations of the Cross, plus “The Agony in the Garden,” are stand-alone concrete structures with red brick exteriors and gabled concrete roofs. The dimensions are roughly 106” high, 86” wide, and 49” deep. The niches open at the front, with the opening covered with a wood-framed glass window, held in place by four screws. Above and below each opening is a frieze of river stones set in concrete, and on either side, there is a fluted concrete column. Below each opening, but above the lower frieze, the title of the Station is carved in stone. The recessed letters appear first in German, then in English below. (See photos #5, 6, 7, 9) The roofs are textured with small stones embedded in the top of a layer of concrete. Comparing the current state with an early photograph of a station, the title is a replacement of the original. In addition, six of the crosses at the top also date from around 1993 and are reproductions created by American Artstone. The wooden frames and glazing are not original, but replacements. Inside are statuary depicting the fourteen stations of the cross, made of plaster casts and hand painted at the Bavarian Royal Academy of Art. These are original. (Figure 7)

The Grotto, located at the halfway point, was built in 1902, two years before the Way of the Cross. Contemporary newspaper reports state that the work was completed by the Poor Handmaids, using stones from the Minnesota River. The stones created a semicircular alcove, in which there are statues of Mary. These are not the original statues. The front was originally open, but around 1927, wooden doors were added. Then, in the early 1990s, a portion of the roof was covered with concrete to prevent water leaks. (Photos #8; Figure #6)

The Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother is located at the high point of the path. This is a one-story brick building with a wood shake peaked-hipped roof. This is capped by an octagonal bell tower. The floorplan is a shallow cross, circular with the east, west and south sides having shallow extensions. The north side has a semi-circular apse. Each extension has a full arch roofline. Above each are crosses made with concrete and embedded stone. The extensions are framed by brick pilasters. Just below the cornice, there is a wide band of stones embedded in concrete. Within the arch are small inset alcoves with a stone lintel. On the east and west are full arched window openings with stone lintels and stained glass windows. These have bronzed metal framing. The sole entrance is on the south elevation, with a single-entry metal door and transom light above. The foundation is concrete with stone facing on the exterior. (Photos #12, 13, 14)

The interior of the chapel measures 20 x 20 feet with an arched ceiling, sixteen feet high. The original stained glass windows were stolen in 1979 – all except the arched transom light over the entrance. The replacement windows came from Church of St. Mary’s in St. Peter and were installed in 1999. The visual center of the room is the arched apse on the north with its scene of Jerusalem on the wall, painted in 1927, and the original altar. Facing the apse are five rows of wooden pews with a center aisle. The plaster walls, painted white, are decorated with patterned stencil work. (Photos #15-16)



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Integrity The Way of the Cross retains good historic integrity. It retains integrity of location, having been

built on this site in 1904. Although the original hospital buildings have been replaced by more recent construction, the local hospital remains in operation on the adjacent property. The setting has changed little, with dramatic views across the city and the Minnesota River valley as one ascends the pathway. The stations and the chapel retain integrity of design with the spatial arrangement on a pathway. The materials — brick on the exterior with stone design elements — reflect their original construction and retain good integrity.

The site retains its essential integrity. The fourteen stations, plus the “Agony in the Garden,” are in very good condition with minimal changes. The statuary were treated by a conservator in the late 1990s. The Lady of Lourdes Grotto has had two significant changes. It was originally open, later enclosed with wood framing to create a door and windows. In 1992 this was replaced by a wrought iron fence and gate. The two statues are not original. The chapel also remains intact, although the apse mural was changed in 1927. The stained glass windows are also replacements, following the theft of the originals in 1979.

The path itself retains its original route. Originally laid with stone, the path was blacktopped in the 1950s, which was replaced with brick pavers in 2001-02. The original stone border on the upper side of the slope remains intact. On the opposite, lower side, the original path was bordered by slightly raised brick. These are gone. Electric lights were installed for the first time in 1956-57, then updated around 2002.

The most significant change to the site was the first 100 yards from the parking lot. Concrete steps were constructed in the 1950s, along with the installation of a shrine to Mary on the west side at the top of the stairs. Approximately fifty feet up the path (to north) is a small brick shrine honoring St. Francis of Assisi, added in the 1950s. A stone retaining wall, roughly 30 inches high, was built in 2001-02 to control erosion with Artstone urns placed on top. On the downhill side of this entry path, there is a wrought iron fence, installed after the period of significance.

In summary, past visitors would readily recognize the Way of the Cross.



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8. Statement of Significance

Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.)

A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the

broad patterns of our history.

B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.

C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.

D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

Criteria Considerations (Mark “x” in all the boxes that apply.)

A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes

B. Removed from its original location

C. A birthplace or grave

D. A cemetery

E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure

F. A commemorative property

G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years

Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.) _RELIGION_________ _SOCIAL___________ ___________________

X

X

X



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Period of Significance 1902-1969__________ ___________________ ___________________

Significant Dates

1902, 1904_____ ___________________ ___________________

Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.) _Alexander Berghold_ ___________________

Cultural Affiliation _N/A______________ ___________________

Architect/Builder _Puhlmann, August, contractor____ _Gronau, John, brickmason_______ ___________________

Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any applicable criteria considerations.)

The Way of the Cross is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, local significance in Religion and Social History, reflecting the growing influence and social standing of German Catholics in Brown County at the turn of the twentieth century. The Way of the Cross is an important example of cultural transference from the region in Europe that most Catholic immigrants in the area called home.

It is also eligible under Criterion B due to its association with Reverend Alexander Berghold, priest, prolific writer, and founder of the St. Alexander Hospital and the Way of the Cross. As a charismatic church figure, he laid the foundation for the growth of the Catholic church in south-central Minnesota.

The period of significance extends from the construction of the Lourdes Grotto in 1902 until 1969, ending with the traditional fifty-year standard for properties where significant activities have continued into the more recent past. The property remained associated with the hospital and the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ until 1980. At that time, with the transformation of the hospital into new ownership and management, the property title transferred to the Diocese of New Ulm.



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Although it is owned by the Diocese of New Ulm, it qualifies under Criteria Consideration A: Religious Properties. As the National Register guidelines state, “A religious group may, in some cases, be considered a cultural group whose activities are significant in areas broader than religious history.” ______________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.) Historic Background

The Way of the Cross is one of the earliest outdoor stations of the cross in the United States, completed in 1904. While contemporary newspaper accounts, inaccurately, touted it as “the only one of its kind in the United States,” it was rare for the time. Why was it constructed, at that time, in New Ulm? The circumstances combined a mix of social trends and the vision of parish leaders. By 1904 the New Ulm area had a large population of Catholic Germans, most often from Bavaria, Austria, and German-speaking Bohemia. In these mountainous regions of southern Europe, the tradition of outdoor stations of the cross had developed to an extent not seen elsewhere in the world. This was, then, a cultural transfer by immigrants of their Old Country heritage to their new home in the United States. However, it took the leadership of Reverend Alexander Berghold to put it into action, then the hard work of Sister Superior Flavia and the Order of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ to complete its construction, drawing on the skills of German-born local craftsmen.1

The property that encompasses the Way of the Cross came into the ownership of the local Catholic parish in 1884, intended for the construction of the city’s first hospital. Located northwest of the residential streets of New Ulm, at the time, the land just below the Minnesota River bluffs was used for small gardens, wood lots, and grazing. On Friday, July 15, 1881, a devastating cyclone swept through New Ulm, bringing death and destruction with “the power of Milton’s demons.” Henry Henschen said, “The air seemed alive with cattle, horses, dogs, cats and domestic fowls.” Within ten minutes, it was over. Another eyewitness wrote, “What we saw, was so horrifying that it could hardly be described. As soon as the first shock was overcome, people began to search for the dead and injured amidst the ruins, and to care for the injured to the best of their abilities.” Five were dead and fifty-three injured. Hundreds of homes suffered damage with nearly forty destroyed. The response was swift. That evening, Reverend Alexander Berghold, the parish priest, opened Saint Michael’s Convent as a temporary hospital with the help of the Sisters of Charity.2

1 The St. Paul Globe, September 28, 1904, stated the Way of the Cross was “the only one of its kind in the

United States” while the Minneapolis Journal, September 26, 1904, noted, “There is not another one in the United States.” New Ulm Volksblatt, September 22, 1904, called it, “A place of special devotion, unique in the U.S.A. Such a way of the cross we find in Catholic countries of Europe, but hardly in the U.S.A.”

2 “Death and Destruction,” New Ulm Weekly Review, July 20, 1881; “Cyclone Sephyrs,” New Ulm Weekly Review, July 27, 1881.



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Two years later, community leaders gathered at Turner Hall to discuss the prospects for a local hospital—a shortcoming made apparent in the days after the cyclone. When the movement bogged down, Berghold took over the fundraising campaign, calling on businessmen and civic leaders—of every belief—for donations. Over the years, Berghold had his eye on William Baumgartner’s farm on Sixth Street North near the bluffs, and purchased surrounding tracts, piece by piece. In his memoirs, he wrote about his first visit to the city, ascending the bluff at this point “via an old Indian path” where he caught a view of the valley below and the beginnings of a church being erected. With the help of businessman Jacob Pfenninger, the priest acquired thirty-four acres of land in 1883. Even before the hospital opened, the grounds on the hill above the hospital was used for a parish picnic. “The ground, which has many natural advantages, will, in the course of time, be so improved that it will become a much frequented place of recreation,” reported the New Ulm Weekly Review.3

The new hospital, named Saint Alexander, was dedicated in early November 1883. The speakers represented a cross-section of the community, including Berghold, Rev. C. F. Mowery, pastor of the newly organized Congregational Church, and William Pfaender, a principal town founder. The building, two stories high, had six patient rooms on the main floor, but upstairs remained unfinished. Reverend Berghold, an avid horticulturist, took special care with the grounds, setting aside land for vegetable gardens and livestock. As the New Ulm Review noted:

The hospital grounds comprise thirty-four acres, part of which is under cultivation and will be utilized as a flower and vegetable garden. Beautiful walks and drives have been laid out up and along the hillside, and the underbrush in the grove on top of the hill has been cut away. Tables and benches have been erected under the trees and in warm days of summer a more beautiful place cannot be found.4

That grove on the top of the hill, popularly known as St. Jacob’s Hill, became a site for parish events. The name was chosen by Rev. Berghold to honor “many kind donors to the Hospital fund who bear the name Jacob.” A news story told of another social event in the summer of 1884:

St. Jacob's Hill was the scene of much mirth yesterday afternoon, it being the occasion of the annual picnic of the scholars of the Sisters' school. The exercises consisted of declamations, singing and music by the scholars of the school, and speaking by Rev. Alex. Berghold and others. A large number of people were present from the city and country.5

Berghold would later recall that, from his earliest days in the city, he had hoped to build a chapel on a prominent point just below the crest.6

3 Walter H. Peters, “Fr. Alexander Berghold, New Ulm’s First Resident Pastor,” The Catholic Bulletin, 48

(February 8, 1958), 2. New Ulm Weekly Review, 18 April 1883, May 30, 1883, July 11, 1883. 4 New Ulm Weekly Review, October 24, 1883. 5 New Ulm Weekly Review, June 4, 25, 1884. 6 New Ulm Review, September 24, 1904.



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In the first year, the hospital struggled financially, with the Sisters of Christian Charity caring for only a few patients. A year later, faced with the prospect of closing the hospital, Father Berghold persuaded the Order of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ to take over ownership and management of the institution. Begun in Dembach, Germany, this order sent its first sisters to the United States in 1868. After the founding of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1869, one of the order’s primary missions became hospital work. By the turn of the century the Poor Handmaids owned or operated ten hospitals and two homes for the aged, and ran two orphanages and fourteen schools, primarily serving Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.7

After a visit to Austria, Berghold returned with a determination to build a new church and drew the architectural plans. He would not see that dream completed, a casualty of a national debate over the future of the Catholic Church. Archbishop John Ireland, one of the country’s leading prelates, actively promoted immigration, bringing European Catholics and settling them throughout rural Minnesota. But Ireland recognized that the wave was slowing to a halt, leading him to turn the church away from a reliance on ethnicity toward an increased involvement in American society. The Archbishop systematically replaced those pastors who held close language ties with their parishes—Father Berghold among them. Berghold said that Ireland “never held any great love for New Ulm and for the Germans.”8

The issue came to a head after Ireland received letters suggesting that Berghold had withheld donations to a special seminary fund. Furious, Berghold confronted the Archbishop, showing him a signed receipt for the cash. When the Archbishop refused to offer an apology, Berghold tendered his resignation, immediately accepted by Ireland. The trustees, in a subtle jab at Ireland, wrote a farewell letter, simply thanking Berghold “for his twenty-two years of blessed work for church, school and hospital, and for his energetic efforts to conserve the German language.”9

On December 3, 1890, Father Berghold departed for Mt. Angel Benedictine Abbey in Marion County, Oregon. His stay at Mount Angel Abbey had a lasting impact. Although it was a brief stop, no more than one month, Berghold would have seen the Abbey’s outdoor Stations of the Cross, erected the previous year. The bas-relief sculptures, from Munich, Germany, were housed in small wood shelters placed along a path, wending through a grove of Douglas fir trees. It appears that this visit planted the seed for a similar pilgrimage site in New Ulm.10

Although Berghold was gone, the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ continued to manage the hospital and surrounding grounds. Several Sister Superiors directed Saint Alexander from 1884 until

7 Mother Mary Secunda, "Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ," The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert

Appleton Company, 1911), 211. 8 New Ulm Review, June 11, 1890. 9 Walter H. Peters, “Fr. Alexander Berghold, New Ulm’s First Resident Pastor,” The Catholic Bulletin, 48

(February 8, 1958), 2. 10 Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary. Accessed May 14, 2018. https://www.mountangelabbey.org/day-

guests/



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1893, when Sister Superior Flavia, a woman “of supreme executive ability,” took the post. Born Margaretha Woersdorfer on May 30, 1852, in Heimburg, Germany. Sister Flavia joined the Poor Hand Maids of Jesus Christ in 1870, following in the footsteps of two sisters. In 1875, she came to the United States. She was nurse at various hospitals, but quickly established herself as an administrator, advancing to the position of Mother Superior in the year 1884 when she was only thirty-two years old. Assigned to Ashland, Wisconsin, the Poor Handmaids erected a hospital under her supervision. From there she went to Superior, Wisconsin, where she remained for seven years and was instrumental in building the St. Francis Hospital in 1885 and St. Mary's Hospital in 1887. In 1892 she came to New Ulm and took charge of St. Alexander Hospital.11

The parish also underwent a fortuitous change in leadership in 1898, when Rev. Bernard Sandmeyer came to lead the flock at Holy Trinity. Reminiscent of Father Berghold’s leadership, he moved to build Holy Trinity into one of the state’s most important parishes. Known as “a very dedicated and aggressive priest,” in 1901, he oversaw the construction of a new rectory next to the church, designed by local architect Carl Heers, built by contractor Herman Schapekahm, and decorated by artist Alexander Schwendinger. The three-story house, described as “one of the largest outside of the large cities, and no doubt is one of the best parsonages in the state,” included an elegant reception room, library, and dining room on the main floor.12

The grounds to the south of St. Alexander Hospital continued to be used as a farm, tended by the Sisters. In 1902 the Poor Handmaids built a grotto on the hillside, using stones taken from the Minnesota River. The Sisters dedicated the shrine to the Virgin Mary and referred to it as either the Lourdes Grotto or the St. Alexander Grotto. Following the visions of fourteen-tear-old Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, in 1858, it had become a popular practice among Catholics around the world to recall the Lourdes experience with small local shrines. The New Ulm Review reported, “A pretty service was held at the Grotto on the hill above the hospital Friday afternoon when Revs. Sandmeyer and Schalk dedicated the place. The grotto is sort of cleft in the hill side and through the work of the sisters at the hospital has been made to look very beautiful. It is made holy by the presence of the statues of the virgin Mary and beautiful by beds of flowers.”13

In 1903 New Ulm received word that the city would host the annual meeting of the Minnesota German Catholic Benevolent Aid Society the following year. Willibald Eibner, a prominent local businessman, served on the executive committee, and he used his influence to secure the convention. Rev. Sandmeyer made sure that the parish and the city were ready. He hired the city’s most prominent artists, Alexander Schwendinger, Christ Heller, and Anton Gag, to paint magnificent frescoes in Holy Trinity’s interior. Completed by Christmas 1903, the Brown County Journal noted, “Holy Trinity Church is now one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, places of worship in the state.”14 With a growing

11 New Ulm Review, May 21, 1913. 12 New Ulm News, January 11, 1902. 13 New Ulm Review, August 20, 1902. 14 Brown County Journal, December 19, 1903; New Ulm Review, August 19, October 7, 1903.



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school enrollment—approaching 400 pupils and classroom numbers reaching eighty pupils per room—the parish announced plans for an impressive new school building. Winona architect A. J. Van Deusen designed the three-story structure with its central tower and arched windows.15

Work on the Way of the Cross began soon after announcement of the convention. For Roman Catholics throughout the world, the Stations of the Cross are synonymous with Lent, Holy Week and, especially, Good Friday. This devotion is also known as the "Way of the Cross", the "Via Crucis", and the "Via Dolorosa." It commemorates fourteen events on the day of Christ's crucifixion. The Stations developed in medieval Europe after wars prevented Christian pilgrims from visiting the Holy Land. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Franciscans began to build a series of outdoor shrines in Europe to duplicate their counterparts in the Holy Land. Performing the devotion meant walking the entire route, stopping to pray at each “station.” In the earliest examples, the number of stations varied between seven and thirty; seven was common. These were usually placed, often in small buildings, along the approach to a church. In 1686, after Pope Innocent XI granted permission to the Franciscans to install stations within churches, they became common in sanctuary interiors. However, the erection of outdoor stations was less frequent. While there has been no systematic study of outdoor Stations of the Cross, an extensive inventory shows that they were highly concentrated in southern Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and northern Italy.16

There are few known outdoor Stations of the Cross in the United States that predate the New Ulm pathway. As the New Ulm Volksblatt observed about the New Ulm shrine, “Such a way of the cross we find in Catholic countries, but hardly in the U.S.A.”17 The Mount Angel Abbey stations, of course, inspired Rev. Berghold. (See Figure 9.) An outdoor Way of the Cross in St. Donatus, Iowa, was constructed in 1861 and is within a National Register historic district that encompasses much of this town. (See Figure 8.) Located near the Mississippi River, it was settled by Luxembourg Catholics. The fourteen stations are situated at intervals of approximately 250 feet adjacent to a dirt foot path that gradually winds its way to the top of the bluff and the Pieta Chapel, built in 1885. They are constructed of brick, and have open, arched entrances and gabled roofs. Behind glass, 24 x 18 inch framed lithographs in black and white depict the usual scenes on the Way to Calvary.18

The New Ulm Way of the Cross grew out of a coterie of close friends and compatriots — Rev. Alexander Berghold, Sister Superior Flavia, the Poor Handmaids, and Rev. Sandmeyer, aided by local

15 “Discuss New Building,” Brown County Journal, January 2, 1904. The school is still in use. 16 “Stations of the Cross Origins and History | DOLR.org.” Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. Accessed

September 14, 2018. http://www.dolr.org/stations-of-the-cross/history#sthash.v4x24FkB.dpuf. 17 New Ulm Volksblatt, September 22, 1904. 18 Sara Anne Daines, “Village of St. Donatus, Iowa, Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places

Registration Form, 1989. Another, earlier, NRHP-listed site is Durward’s Glen near Baraboo, Wisconsin. However, its path was significantly altered in 1945, moving the stations from the St. Mary of the Pine chapel area to create a route up the hill. In 1998 the stations, of wood construction, were replaced and the interior artwork was removed, substituting bronze statues.



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contractor John Gronau. In 1899 Berghold returned to Minnesota to participate in the dedication of a statue of himself at the hospital. “Heartily welcomed by everybody that knows him,” he stayed at the rectory with Rev. Sandmeyer, where he was serenaded by the Great Western Band. At the public event on Ascension Day, “All creeds were represented,” giving the priest “an ovation solely intended for Rev. Berghold, the private man, the citizen, the benefactor, and he was deeply moved by these testimonials of esteem.” Soon after, he was assigned to St. Nicholas Church in New Market, Minnesota, from which he often visited his former parish.19

One contemporary source gave primary credit to Sister Superior Flavia, stating, “The gentle woman in charge at the hospital and leader of the devoted band of mercy that labors in its wards, first conceived of the idea of a church roofed by heaven and incredible pains have been taken to carry out her plans.” The New Ulm Volksblatt echoed, “The whole building program is a credit to Mother Flavia of the hospital sisters, the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.” The Order of the Poor Handmaids donated $4,000 to the project.20

Other sources credit Rev. Berghold as the person most responsible for the concept of a Way of the Cross. The New Ulm Review reported, “The Way of the Cross was conceived by Rev. Alexander Berghold. He saw to it that the necessary funds were collected to make its erection possible.” These are not incompatible attributions. Berghold, with a decades-old love of the landscape and founder of the hospital, was inspired after his brief time at Mount Angel Abbey. He shared the vision with Sister Superior Flavia, who managed the hospital. She had a similar interest, having built the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto on the hillside in 1902. The Sister Superior supervised the details of its construction with labor contributed by the Poor Handmaids and Berghold raising the necessary funds. Although the number of the stations of the cross had been formalized by the church at fourteen in the mid-nineteenth century, those involved chose to add an additional station at the beginning of the pathway, entitled, “The Agony of the Garden.” 21

The design of the stations and the chapel came from Rev. Sandmeyer, with an assist from contractor and skilled brickmason John Gronau. The New Ulm News reported, “The priest apparently gathered pictures of examples, and handed them to Gronau, an experienced bricklayer, to translate into construction.” The story continued, “Gronau . . . deserves much praise for the faithfulness of his interpretation of the design.” John Gronau was born near Danzig, Germany in 1869, coming to New Ulm

19 New Ulm Review, May 10,17, June 7, 1899. 20 New Ulm Volksblatt, September 22, 1904. 21 New Ulm Review, October 13, 1915. Attribution to Berghold was repeated in the Brown County Journal,

July 22, 1927. Fr. Walter Peters, a biographer of Reverend Berghold, wrote, after a visit to Berghold’s hometown in Austria, “On the way to the cemetery, I noticed four gabled brick shrines, which housed images of the four evangelists. Undoubtedly they were models for the Stations of the Cross which he planned for New Ulm.” Peters, a professor at the University of St. Thomas, had grown up in New Ulm and his parents had known the priest. Walter H. Peters, “Fr. Alexander Berghold, New Ulm’s First Resident Pastor,” The Catholic Bulletin, 48 (February 8, 1958), 4.



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in 1892. After a short stint with Otto Tappe, he formed his construction company in 1898. In 1905 Gronau built Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, adjacent to the South Broadway Historic District. Other work included the Schoch (2 S. Minnesota) and Olsen (101 N. Minnesota) blocks on Minnesota Street, both contributing buildings to the New Ulm Commercial Historic District, the A. W. Bingham house (304 S. German St.), contributing to the South German Street Historic District, and the 1901 opera house built for Turner Hall (no longer standing). He remained in business until 1925. Active in civic affairs, he served two terms as city councilor and served on the Zoning Board of Appeals.22 His partner, August Puhlmann, had also been born in Germany, beginning contract mason work in the city after his arrival in 1884. In 1915, he retired and his sons formed Puhlmann Brothers. The company is still in business. The statuary came from Bavaria, with some sources crediting the Bavarian Royal Academy of Art as the source.23 The Order of the Poor Handmaids donated $4,000 to the project. They also contributed the labor needed to build the footpath and plant flowers, joined by some of the “aged inmates” of the “old folks” wing of the hospital. The New Ulm News declared, “The whole is a charming scene of refinement and religious devotion.”24

The chapel was named the Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother, with the interior painted by Christian Heller. At the time, Heller was a partner with fellow artist Anton Gag. “The gentlemen,” touted the New Ulm Review, “are without doubt in the very front rank in their profession.” The pair was responsible for the interior decoration of several Minnesota churches, including St. Patrick’s Church in West Albany, and Holy Trinity in New Ulm, as well as work in the Rathskeller of the local Turner Hall.25

The Way of the Cross was dedicated in September 1904 during the state convention of the German Catholic Aid Benevolent Society (or Verein). The conference itself was relatively unimportant, although it passed a resolution that led to the development of an improved national network for the Catholic Aid Societies. It also stepped into a controversy over funding for parochial education, supporting the use of tax dollars. The convention’s greatest local impact was what was popularly called “Catholic Day.” More than 10,000 people flooded the city for a grand parade, wending its way down the streets and passing under arches designed by Julius Berndt, best-known as the father of the Hermann Monument. The New Ulm News reported, “It was the largest procession ever witnessed in the city, and the bands and marching

22 New Ulm News, June 18, 1898; Brown County Journal, October 7, 1948; New Ulm Review, October 7,

1948. 23 Brown County Journal, July 22, 1927; Springfield Advance-Press, July 1, 1992. Letter from William Kevin

Cawley to Ralph Reinhart, April 13, 1992, Diocese of New Ulm Archives. In the letter, Cawley, archivist at University of Notre Dame, quotes Sister Roselda, archivist for the Poor Handmaids, stating that the statutes were “made by the Bavarian Royal Academy of Art in Munich.”

24 New Ulm News, September 24, 1904; New Ulm Review, October 13, 1915; Brown County Journal, July 22, 1927.

25 Julie L’Enfant, The Gag Family: German-Bohemian Artists in America (Afton, Minn.: Afton Historical Society Press, 2002), 56-60, 79-81, 85-86. New Ulm Review, April 10, 1901. The firm had initially included Theodore Schwendinger, but he left the partnership in 1901.



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societies, along the decorated streets with American and German flags, with the sides of the streets lined with thousands of people, was an inspiring sight long to be remembered.”26

Indeed, the whole event echoed the celebration held seven years earlier to dedicate the Hermann Monument – this time, including a sacred site on the bluffs overlooking the city. It quickly joined the monument as one of the major attractions for visitors to see while visiting town. As a local newspaper observed, “Many other strangers in the city roamed about viewing the Indian massacre monument, Hermann monument, and St. Alexander hospital, and The Way of the Cross and the chapel at the top of the hill, to which the winding path leads.”27

At the dedication of the Way of the Cross, crowds gathered as the officiating priests, Rev. E. Roediger, Rev. Liborus Breitenstein, and Rev. Raymond Holte, conducted the “impressive and solemn ceremonies.” At the top of the hill, they reached the Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. The New Ulm Review reported:

The most striking feature of this part of the program was the address by Rev. Alexander Berghold. An old man now and gray, he had in the strength of his early manhood come to New Ulm as the first pastor of the Holy Trinity church, in 1869, and then, standing on the very spot where he now stood, he had expressed a hope that some day just such a chapel might be built and dedicated to God as was now built and was now being dedicated. These memories recalled by the former New Ulm priest in feeling and words sank deep into the hearts of his hearers.28

After 1904

While the shrine was a religious devotion, once completed, the Way of the Cross quickly became a popular stop for visitors to New Ulm. Numerous newspaper accounts touted it as “the only one of its kind in the United States,” attracting “much attention and people from distant parts of the state.” A feature article in the St. Paul Globe reported, “People from far and near make pilgrimages to this place.”29 For visitors, it was often paired with the Hermann Monument, less than a mile away along the top of the bluff. “New Ulm has two attractions that no other city in the state and possibly no other state in the Union has to offer,” the New Ulm Review boasted. “They are the Hermann's Monument on the bluff directly west of the city and opposite the Dr. Martin Luther College and the Way of the Cross.”30

26 New Ulm News, October 8, 1904; Irish Times, October 1, 1904; St. Paul Globe, September 28, 1904. 27 New Ulm News, October 8, 1904. 28 New Ulm Review, September 28, 1904. 29 St. Paul Globe, September 28, 1904. 30 New Ulm Review, October 13, 1915.



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Rev. Berghold was so taken with the Way of the Cross that the following year, 1905, he contracted with August Puhlmann, the New Ulm mason, to erect a way of the cross for his parish at the Church of St. Nicholas in New Market, Minnesota. This shrine is still intact. (See Figure 10.)31

The hospital underwent a major expansion in 1913, thanks to the leadership of Sister Superior Flavia. The new facility, built next to the original building, was described “as modern and up-to-date as an institution of the kind can be found in the state,” featured sixty-three rooms, modern plumbing, elevators, and a new operating room. It was designed by Milwaukee architect Joseph Brielmaier. Renamed Loretto Hospital, the old quarters became the St. Alexander’s Home for the Aged.32

The first major changes to the site came in 1927, when heavy spring rains badly damaged the path, washing away much of the gravel and threatening the stations. In response, the Poor Handmaids had a concrete wall built just downhill from the lower edge of the path. Between this wall and the path, they filled the space with garden soil in which they planted shrubs and flowering plants. Along the edges of the path, they placed “small squares of cement with corners upward, one against another, to protect the flower beds.” All the work except the wall was done by the Sisters, who pushed wheelbarrows, loaded with gravel and rock, up the slope, and made a low wall of cobblestones extending at the upper side of the path from station to station to prevent further washing of gravel into the way. At the same time, the interior of the chapel was repainted.33

After World War II

The Sisters of the Poor Handmaids continued to maintain livestock on the farm on the site until 1957, with around twenty cows and forty hogs. The surrounding neighborhood was filling up with new homes and plans were underway for a new hospital building. The animals were auctioned off and farm buildings were demolished, although the Sisters continued to maintain the vegetable gardens. As the New Ulm Journal reported, “The end of farming operations will also provide a more scenic view of the city from the Way of the Cross.” The new Loretto Hospital opened in 1962. In 1980 the city’s two hospitals merged to create the Sioux Valley Hospital, ending the service of the Order of the Poor Handmaids after ninety-six years. Ownership of the Way of the Cross passed to the Diocese, with its care handled by the Knights of Columbus.34

31 New Ulm Review, May 10, 1905; Minneapolis Tribune, June 13, 1905; New Ulm Post, August 14, 1914;

The Minneapolis Journal, May 19, 1905, labeled the New Market stations as “being the second one in America.” 32 Angeline Meidl Portner, History of the St. Alexander Hospital and Home (New Ulm: privately printed,

2013), 20-23. “Brief History of the Loretto Hospital,” Brown County Journal, July 6, 1934; “Cornerstone of Loretto Hospital Laid,” New Ulm Review, October 30, 1912.

33 Brown County Journal, July 22, 1927. Although documentation has not been found that names the artist, an oral tradition credits Alexander Schwendinger.

34 New Ulm Journal, October 29, 1957.



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Significance: Criterion A

The Way of the Cross is significant under Criterion A as a representation of the growing social, political, and economic standing of Catholics within New Ulm, Minnesota.

The town was founded as a colony of the Socialist Turner Society of America — the most influential nonsectarian German-American organization in the nineteenth century. As freethinkers, the Turners discouraged churches, expressing concern about the influence of “priests and Jesuits.” Indeed, when the town was founded, the German Land Company (the legal entity behind its settlement), declared as its purpose: “To procure a home for every German laborer, popish priests and lawyers excepted, in some healthy and productive district, located on some navigable river.” Although that initial hostility to priests and attorneys faded, the agnostic Turners remained a primary influence on local politics and culture. Rev. Robert Schlinkert, a local parish priest, wrote in 1919, “They [the Turners] had a great influence in matters of school and town government. This fact also caused considerable friction between the so-called freethinkers and the church people.”35

The social and religious balance shifted in the years after the Civil War, when the primary immigration to Brown County came from German-speaking Bohemia. By 1880, the rural population continued to increase, notably in Sigel Township—with 370 German-Bohemians — and 927 in rural Brown County as a whole. New Ulm’s German-Bohemian population had grown to 235 people in fifty-five different families. The immigrants came primarily from small villages and farms and some of the town’s more established families saw them as less educated, peasant stock. These immigrants were almost exclusively Catholic and spoke Böhmisch.

The rural townships just outside of the city changed rapidly so that by 1878, John E. Warren, a correspondent of the Chicago Times, could note with surprise,

I thought I would like to see how Sunday passed in a town where a large majority of the inhabitants are admirers of Ingersoll and Tom Paine. There is no place in the land where such an odd combination of piety and business may be seen. It is a most curious spectacle. The town is literally crowded with teams from the country, the farmers coming in . . . for the purpose of attending church. They are principally Catholics and “good Catholics” at that!36

With much of the best land already taken, after 1880, other German-Bohemian families settled in town, primarily in a neighborhood along the Minnesota River, isolated from the rest of town by the flourmills, the railroad tracks, and the stockyards. Townspeople called it Gänseviertl or “Goosetown” because its residents raised geese on small urban farms, allowing them to roam the fields and dirt roads.

35 Jörg Nagler. “Frontier Socialism: The Founding of New Ulm, Minnesota, by German Workers and Freethinkers,” in Emigration and Settlement Patterns of German Communities in North America, 178-192, ed. Eberhard Reichmann, La Vern J. Rippley, and Jörg Nagler (Indianapolis, Ind.: Max Kade German-American Center, 1995), 178-192. Rev. Robert Schlinkert, The Holy Trinity Church of New Ulm, Minnesota: A Record of Seventy-five Years (New Ulm: privately printed, 1919). 12-13.

36 New Ulm Review, April 24, 1878.



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Others found homes in the area known as the “Wallachei,” meaning low land or swampland, in an area near the Hauenstein Brewery drained by a small tributary of the Cottonwood River. They lived on small subsistence farms and worked as laborers in the brewery and the nearby stone quarry. Other German-Bohemians lived around Holy Trinity, with many farmers retiring to town and buying homes on nearby streets.37

Although we often think of “German” culture as a monolith, there were significant cultural, religious, and social differences between immigrant groups. As historians Ken Meter and Robert Paulson wrote,

Despite their Germanic roots, however, the German-Bohemian inhabitants of New Ulm were held at a distance by the more proper, more prominent Germans who dominated the town, whose closely-kept, substantial brick homes stood up the hill from Goosetown, near the thriving market section. The upwardly aspiring Germans distanced themselves from the German-Bohemians, and the Böhmisch shied away from the Germans’ main social center, the Turnhalle.38

The class differences were subtly hinted at in newspaper stories. For example, the German-Bohemian craft of klöppeln, or bobbin lacemaking, was featured in the Minnesota pavilion at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. An article in the national Godey’s Magazine describes its “discovery.”

Mrs. Seiter, a wealthy resident of New Ulm, had become interested not only in the work done by these lace-workers, but in the condition of the people themselves. She determined to devote her leisure time to philanthropic work among them. Before 1893 the women had taken their laces to the country stores in exchange for butter and eggs. In many instances the laces were soiled, for the people lived with little idea of cleanliness. They were thrifty people though, buying land for farms, erecting their little two-room houses as soon as settled in the country, and devoting themselves to work, never for a moment tolerating a pair of idle hands. Mrs. Seiter soon made herself a power among them. She promised that she would endeavor to find a market for their work if they would keep their laces clean. This, of course, meant cleaner surroundings, at least in the neighborhood of the lace cushion.39

37 Robert Paulson, “We Weren’t First But We Were a Close Second,” Paper, German-American Studies

Symposium, 2004. A brief article in the New Ulm Review, January 30, 1923, states that earlier settlers from Saxony raised geese in the flats before the arrival of German-Bohemians.

38 Ken Meter and Robert Paulson, The Border People: German-Bohemians in America (St. Paul: privately printed, 1993), 3-4.

39 Julia Darrow Cowles, “About New Ulm,” New Ulm News, 9 May 9, 1897. The article was originally published in Godey’s Magazine, 134 (1897), 474-76. The references Mrs. Seiter was from one of the founding Turner families of New Ulm.



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As historian Robert Paulson wrote, “The article . . . articulates a long-felt attitude about the social structure of the New Ulm community. It had been felt by the German-Bohemians that the descendants of the ‘founders of New Ulm’ had looked down upon them as lower class; as less cultured, and less educated than the people who ‘lived up the hill’.”40

Reading local newspaper stories, one finds numerous condescending comments toward the German-Bohemian neighborhoods.41 They often referenced the class distinctions of German-Bohemians as uneducated and violent.

— The ways of the Wallahei are past understanding. The people out there should be set off in a community by themselves.42

— A little rumpus occurred in Goose Town Saturday evening. Two women whipped each other’s husbands because of a quarrel about some geese. White winged peace has settled over that part of the city again.43

The events of 1904, centered around the Catholic Verein state conference and the Catholic Day celebration, marked a key moment in local history. Represented in the Way of the Cross, Holy Trinity School, and gloriously decorated interior of the Church of the Holy Trinity, these events ushered in a new era in the social balance of power. In local politics, in 1905, Willibald Eibner became the first Catholic to serve as mayor of the city. In his 1960 sociological study, Germania, Noel Iverson wrote, “[New Ulm] remained a Turner village. It was not until . . . 1905, when New Ulm was portrayed by Father Schlinkert (parish priest and historian) as a ‘center of Catholicity,’ that the eclipse of the Turner element became obvious to all.”44

The Way of the Cross is an important example of cultural transference from the region in Europe that most local Catholic immigrants called home. Historian Robert Paulson, coauthor of The Quiet Immigrants, described the characteristics:

They are very, very definitely strong Catholics, and rural Catholics. They came from forested areas, so it’s interesting that a lot of their religious practices are associated with where they come from. Their songs [tell us] it was in a Bohemian forest where my cradle stood. And one of the folk masses that they sing is the Walder Messe, or the Foresters’ Mass. And it’s always talking about the beauties of

40 Robert Paulson, “Social Attitudes in New Ulm,” in Heimatbrief: Stories of German-Bohemians (St.

Paul, Minn.: Edinborough Press, 2012), 236. 41 New Ulm Review, December 25, 1907; “WALLACHEI IN TROUBLE. George Kraus Jr. beat his

wife (according to “Queensbury rules),” Brown County Journal, August 15, 1908. 42 New Ulm Review, July 15, 1908. 43 New Ulm Weekly Review, July 27, 1887. 44 Noel Iverson, Germania, U.S.A.: Social Change in New Ulm, Minnesota (Minneapolis: University of

Minnesota Press, 1966), 67. Alexander Berghold and Rev. Robert Schlinkert, Geschichte der Hl. Dreifaltigkeits-Gemeinde in New Ulm, Minnesota (New Ulm, 1919), 79.



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God’s creation, and how merciful and loving he is because he’s created such a wonderful world for us to live in. This comes off very strong and clear.45

Rev. Berghold expressed this connection, as found in the Way of the Cross, in a poignant poem, Die Auswanderer (The Emigrants). He wrote of the sadness of emigrants as they departed their homeland:

The whip cracks and the wagons creak Move forward, with their heavy load

Pausing often for sad farewells To friends who stand along the road.

Once more they pause near linden trees

That shade the Stations of the Cross They weep and look once more upon

Their home and, now, their greatest loss.46

It was perfectly fitting that an outdoor way of the cross, bringing memories of homeland, faith, and nature together, became a shrine for these German Catholics as they gained increasing social, economic, and cultural standing in the community.

Significance: Criterion B

The Way of the Cross is significant under Criteria B due to its association with Reverend Alexander Berghold. As historian La Vern Rippley wrote, “Berghold's contribution as a lecturer, preacher, builder, pastor and as a writer is impressive.” 47

Catholics began settling in the area, notably in rural Cottonwood Township to the southeast of New Ulm, where a small church, St. Joseph’s, was built around 1861. The first Mass was said by Rev. Valentine Sommereisen, a pioneer missionary in southwest Minnesota. While several families began worshipping around New Ulm, it was not until the appearance of Rev. Berghold that the Catholic church in Brown County gained a strong foothold.48

Born in Styria, Austria, on October 14, 1838, Berghold’s parents moved to Petersdorf in 1844, where they operated a large estate. Alexander went to school nearby until, in the fall of 1851, he left home to further his education in Graz, later enrolling to study theology in the Royal Franzend University in 1862.49 The following year, Father Francis Pierz visited the school to recruit missionaries for his work in America. Pierz had gone to the United States from Slovenia in 1834 and spent the next twenty years

45 Robert Paulson, interview by the author, January 28, 2015, German Bohemian Heritage Society. 46 Rev. Alexander Berghold, Präirie-Rosen: Gedichte und Prosa (St. Paul, Minn.: Volkszeitung, 1880), 73-

77. Translated from German by Daniel J. Hoisington and Darla Gebhardt. 47 La Vern J. Rippley, “Alexander Berghold, Pioneer Priest and Prairie Poet,” The Report: A Journal of

German-American History, 37 (1978) 43-56. 48 Fr. Walter H. Peters, “Fr. Alexander Berghold,” The Catholic Bulletin, February 8, 1958. 49 La Vern J. Rippley, “Alexander Berghold, Pioneer Priest and Prairie Poet,” 43-56.



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working among the Ottawa Indians in the upper Midwest. Moving to Minnesota, he became an eloquent voice encouraging German immigration to Minnesota, writing extensively for American and European newspapers.50

Growing too old to carry on the work, Pierz traveled to Europe to recruit a new generation of leaders. In 1864 he convinced fifteen theological students to come to the United States with him—an impressive group that included Frederick Francis Katzer, later archbishop of Milwaukee, and James Trobec, later bishop of the Saint Cloud diocese, and Alexander Berghold.

Berghold was ordained in St. Paul on October 26, 1864. Within a few days, Bishop Thomas Grace appointed him as a priest for churches in the area around Belle Plaine and Jordan. Between 1865 to 1868, he erected new churches at Jordan in Scott County, and St. Thomas and St. John in Le Sueur County. In 1868 the diocese assigned the young priest to New Ulm, where his ministry began on December 26, 1868. One story is that when he arrived at the Union Hotel, the owner told him that he was wasting his time, since New Ulm was “not interested in religion.” Asking for the names of Catholics in town, Berghold was told “he could enumerate only twelve families of reliable Catholics.”51

Although Berghold resided in New Ulm, his work led him to form parishes in towns and hamlets to the west. Traveling a circuit, he conducted services in West Newton, Home, Beaver Falls, Sacred Heart, Sleepy Eye, Redwood Falls, and Leavenworth. After the Chicago & Northwestern railroad had established the stations at Springfield, Lamberton, Fairfax, Walnut Grove, and Marshall, Berghold conducted services in those towns while organizing the parishes and working with them to build churches, often of his own design. His work led him as far afield as Lake Shetek and at Kranzburg in South Dakota.52

Reverend Berghold’s articles and books, combined with the advent of the railroad in 1872, brought a new wave of German immigrants to Brown County, transforming the social and religious life of New Ulm. He proved tireless in his efforts to bring new immigrants to settle in Minnesota. His pamphlet, Führer Für Einwanderer Nach Minnesota, Nordamerika, was published in 1876 by the Catholic Immigration Society. This work, a thirty-six-page booklet, appeared in an edition of 7,000 copies that were distributed at the major immigration port cities, such as Bremen, Hamburg, and La Havre. In it, he offered advice and assistance for the German-speaking immigrant to the Midwest. He made a strong case for immigrants to come to the United States, combining practical advice with lyrical descriptions of the upper Midwest. As he wrote in Prairie Roses:

They came—city and country dwellers from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Bohemia, Austria, England, Canada, and even from far-off northern Iceland came many

50 Rev. Francis X. Pierz, Die Indianer in Nord-Amerika, ihre, Lebensweise, Sitten und Gebrauche, u.s.w.(St.

Louis, 1855), Appendix. 51 Rev. Alexander Schwinn, A History of the Church of St. George of West Newton, Minnesota, 1858-1958

(New Ulm: privately printed, 1958), 42. 52 “Fr. Alex. Berghold Dies in November,” Brown County Journal, July 5, 1919.



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families to convert the vast prairie into fertile fields. . . . Already, after hardly thirteen years of cultivation, the prairie is losing its monotonous, desolate appearance as the result of the planting of numerous little woods, and it is probable that most of those who have guided the breaking plow through the virgin soil, will live to see the largest, most beautiful national corn region of the world, idyllically interspersed with small woods, gardens and fertile fields.

During the winter of 1878, he traveled throughout New England and New York, lecturing in German and English to Catholic audiences about the opportunities that awaited in Minnesota. His efforts received a commendation from the Minnesota state legislature in 1876.53

Berghold was a talented writer, best-known as the author of The Indians’ Revenge, a history of the U.S.-Dakota War based on stories that he gathered from eyewitnesses. Sympathetic to the Dakota, the work established Berghold’s a reputation not only as a German-American historian, but also as a poet and accomplished essayist. In 1880 Präirie-Rosen: Gedichte und Prosa was published and is described by biographer La Vern Rippley as “Berghold's most significant literary contribution.” It contained selections of Berghold's poetry and prose focusing especially on themes revolving around life on the prairie. In 1891 Berghold went on next to publish Land und Leute: Reisebilder und Skizzen, a collection of his travel sketches. Rippley described the essays: “Interspersed in the travelogue material is a philosophical, pedagogical, and deeply religious concern.”54

Reverend Berghold moved easily within the city’s society, and was considered a “cosmopolitan man,” as Albert Bogen, editor of the New Ulm Post, called him. He sat on the boards of the Public Works Commission and the Building and Loan Association. He helped his friend—brewer and staunch Turner—John Hauenstein build a fish pond and outdoor bowling alley in front of his house. A skilled marksman, he won the city’s Thanksgiving Day turkey shoot in 1884. In his spare time, he patented an “Improvement in Devices for Secret Writing.” He gardened and maintained one of the finest greenhouses in the city. (see Figure 13.)55

Berghold laid the foundation for the Catholic church in south-central Minnesota. As the population grew in Brown County, Berghold turned his attention to the education of Catholic youth. In 1872 he convinced the Sisters of Christian Charity—an order expelled from Germany by Bismarck—to found St. Michael's Academy. On June 2, 1873, the school opened in a three-story brick structure on the corner of Fourth North and State Streets. It was a boarding school, although it also accepted local day students of all faiths. As Berghold insisted, “Only those who desire it will receive religious instruction.” This property is still standing and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. He was, as previously

53 John Wesley Bond, Minnesota: The Empire State of the New North-west (St. Paul, Minn.: H. M. Smyth &

Co. 1878), 88. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, “Editor’s Introduction,” in Rev. Alexander Berghold, The Indians’ Revenge (St. Paul: Edinborough Press, 2007), 1-18.

54 Rippley, “Alexander Berghold, Pioneer Priest and Prairie Poet,” 49. 55 New Ulm Herald, February 2, 1878; New Ulm Review, December 3, 1884. In 1876 Berghold was granted

Patent US185621A for a simple cryptography device that enabled to correspondents to code messages.



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discussed, the founder of the first hospital in New Ulm, as well as the amateur architect who designed what is now the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. His work would eventually culminate in the naming of New Ulm as the seat of the new Diocese of New Ulm, established in 1957.56

The Way of the Cross is closely associated with Rev. Berghold and stands as part of his legacy in New Ulm. Berghold is associated with other properties, including St. Michael’s Convent in New Ulm. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, it is more closely associated with the Sisters of Christian Charity, who resided and taught there. Holy Trinity Cathedral, possibly Berghold’s crowning work, is not eligible for the National Register due to a loss of integrity. The New Market Way of the Cross remains in place with good integrity, but it is secondary and derivative of New Ulm site. Although he established parishes in several small communities, there are no other existing church properties associated with Berghold. This property stands out as a reminder of the hospital that he founded as well as his love of nature and the land. For that reason, it is an appropriate candidate for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion B.57

9. Major Bibliographical References

Bibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form.)

Alston, George Cyprian. "Way of the Cross." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.

Berghold, Alexander, and Robert Schlinkert, Geschichte der Hl. Dreifaltigkeits-Gemeinde in New Ulm, Minnesota: Eine Festgabe zum Goldenen Jubiläum. New Ulm, Minnesota: Druck der Liesch Printing Co., 1919.

Berghold, Alexander. The Indian’s Revenge or Days of Horror. Some Appalling Events in the History of the Sioux. San Francisco: P. J. Thomas, 1891.

Berghold, Rev. Alexander. Land und Leute: Reisebilder und skizzen von Rev. Alexander Berghold. St. Paul, Minn. Druckerei des Wanderer, 1891.

Berghold, Alexander. Prairie-Rosen: Gedichte und Prosa. St. Paul, Minn.: Volkszeitung, 1880. Bond, John Wesley. Minnesota: The Empire State of the New North-west. St. Paul, Minn.: H. M. Smyth &

Co. 1878. Daines, Sara Anne. “Village of St. Donatus, Iowa, Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places

Registration Form, 1989. German-Bohemian Heritage Society. Heimatbrief: Stories of German-Bohemians. St. Paul: Edinborough

Press, 2013.

56 Dennis Gimmestad, “St. Michael’s School and Convent,” National Register of Historic Places Registration

Form, 1979. 57 The Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office staff reviewed a National Register of Historic Places

nomination for Holy Trinity Cathedral in the 1990s and determined that it was not eligible.



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Gimmestad, Dennis. “St. Michael’s School and Convent,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 1979.

Hoisington, Daniel John. A German Town: A History of New Ulm, Minnesota. St. Paul: Edinborough Press, 2004.

Iverson, Noel Iverson. Germania, U.S.A.: Social Change in New Ulm, Minnesota. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1966.

L’Enfant, Julie. The Gag Family: German-Bohemian Artists in America. Afton, Minn.: Afton Historical Society Press, 2002.

Meter, Ken and Robert Paulson. Border People: The Bohmisch in America. St. Paul: privately printed, 1993.

Nagler, Jörg. “Frontier Socialism: The Founding of New Ulm, Minnesota, by German Workers and Freethinkers.” In Emigration and Settlement Patterns of German Communities in North America, 178-192, edited by Eberhard Reichmann, La Vern J. Rippley, and Jörg Nagler, 178-192. Indianapolis, Ind.: Max Kade German-American Center, 1995.

Paulson, Robert J. “We Weren’t First But We Were a Close Second.” Paper, German-American Studies Symposium, 2004.

Peters, Walter H. “Fr. Alexander Berghold, New Ulm’s First Resident Pastor,” The Catholic Bulletin, 48 (February 8, 1958), 1-4.

Radzilowski, John. Bells Across the Prairie: 125 Years of Holy Trinity Catholic Church. New Ulm: Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, 1995.

Rippley, La Vern J. “Alexander Berghold, Pioneer Priest and Prairie Poet,” The Report: A Journal of German-American History, 37 (1978) 43-56.

Rippley, La Vern J. and Robert Paulson. German-Bohemians: The Quiet Immigrants. Northfield, Minn.: German-Bohemian Heritage Society, 1995.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Company. New Ulm, Brown County, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1905, 1913.

"Stations of the Cross Origins and History" Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. Accessed May14, 2018. http://www.dolr.org/stations-of-the-cross/history#sthash.v4x24FkB.dpuf.

Schlinkert, Rev. Robert. The Holy Trinity Church of New Ulm, Minnesota: A Record of Seventy-five Years. New Ulm: privately printed, 1919.

Thurston, Herbert. The Stations of the Cross: An Account of their History and Devotional Purpose. London: Burns and Oates, 1914.

Turner, Victor, and Edith Turner. Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture: Anthropological Perspectives. New York: Columbia University Press, 1878.

Newspapers

Brown County Journal. New Ulm, Minnesota.

New Ulm News. New Ulm, Minnesota.

New Ulm Review. New Ulm, Minnesota.

New Ulm Weekly Review. New Ulm, Minnesota. ___________________________________________________________________________



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Previous documentation on file (NPS): ____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested ____ previously listed in the National Register ____ previously determined eligible by the National Register ____ designated a National Historic Landmark ____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #____________ ____ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________ ____ recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ___________ Primary location of additional data: ____ State Historic Preservation Office ____ Other State agency ____ Federal agency ____ Local government ____ University _x___ Other Name of repository: __Brown County Historical Society_________________________ Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): _BW-NUC-079_

______________________________________________________________________________ 10. Geographical Data

Acreage of Property ______3.5_________ Use either the UTM system or latitude/longitude coordinates Latitude/Longitude Coordinates Datum if other than WGS84:__________ (enter coordinates to 6 decimal places) 1. Latitude: Longitude:

2. Latitude: Longitude:

3. Latitude: Longitude:

4. Latitude: Longitude: Or UTM References Datum (indicated on USGS map):

X



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NAD 1927 or NAD 1983

1. Zone: 15 Easting: 382178 Northing: 4907583

2. Zone: Easting: Northing:

3. Zone: Easting: Northing:

4. Zone: Easting : Northing:

Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property.)

The boundary includes Brown County parcel # 001.555.001.11.110, excluding that portion now designated as Loretto Park.

Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected.)

The Way of the Cross was historically associated with St. Alexander Hospital, later expanded and renamed Loretto Hospital. In 1980 this property was given to the Diocese of New Ulm by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, while ownership of the hospital property transferred to the Sioux Valley Hospital. The boundary (See Map 3) contains the property historically associated with the Way of the Cross that retains integrity. ______________________________________________________________________________

11. Form Prepared By name/title: ___Daniel J. Hoisington______________________________________ organization: ___Hoisington Preservation Consultants_______________________ street & number: ___P. O. Box 13585____________________________________ city or town: _Roseville_______ state: ___MN_________ zip code:_55113_____ [email protected]______________________________ telephone:__651-415-1034__________ date:__December 12, 2018__ ________ ___________________________________________________________________________

Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form:

• Maps: A USGS map or equivalent (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's

location.



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• Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Key all photographs to this map.

• Additional items: (Check with the SHPO, TPO, or FPO for any additional items.) Photographs Submit clear and descriptive photographs. The size of each image must be 1600x1200 pixels (minimum), 3000x2000 preferred, at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or larger. Key all photographs to the sketch map. Each photograph must be numbered and that number must correspond to the photograph number on the photo log. For simplicity, the name of the photographer, photo date, etc. may be listed once on the photograph log and doesn’t need to be labeled on every photograph. Photo Log Name of Property: The Way of the Cross City or Vicinity: New Ulm County: Brown State: MN Photographer: Daniel J. Hoisington Date Photographed: April 2016, May 2018 Description of Photograph(s) and number, include description of view indicating direction of camera:

Photo #1 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_001), entrance off 5th Street N. Camera facing northwest.

Photo #2 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_002), View from entrance to rear of New Ulm Medical Center. Camera facing northeast.

Photo #3 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_003), Walkway to Way of the Cross. Camera facing north-northwest.

Photo #4 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_004), Way of the Cross, halfway up the hill. Camera facing south and parking lot.

Photo #5 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_005), Station #8: Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem. Camera facing southwest.

Photo #6 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_006), rear of Station #4. Camera facing southeast.

Photo #7 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_007), detail of Station #4. Camera facing southwest.

Photo #8 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_008), Lourdes Grotto. Camera facing southwest.



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Photo #9 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_010), Station #3: Jesus falls for the first time. Camera facing northeast.

Photo #10 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_009), Way of the Cross from top of hill. Camera facing south.

Photo #11 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_011), Way of the Cross and Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing north.

Photo #12 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_012), Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing northeast.

Photo #13 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_013), Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing southwest.

Photo #14 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_014), Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Detail on north elevation. Camera facing northeast.

Photo #15 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_015), Interior, Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing north.

Photo #16 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_016), Interior, Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing south.

Photo #17 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_018), Way of the Cross and retaining wall. Camera facing northwest.

Photo #18 (MN_Brown County_Way of the Cross_019), view from the Way of the Cross to Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Camera facing east.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 100 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Office of Planning and Performance Management. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1849 C. Street, NW, Washington, DC.

NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8/2002) OMB No. 1024-0018

United States Department of the Interior Put Here National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Additional Documentation Page 1

The Way of the Cross Name of Property Brown County, Minnesota County and State Name of multiple listing (if applicable)

Map 1. Property Location

UTM: 15 382178 4905583




Map 2.




Map 3. Way of the Cross, Boundary




Map 4. Photograph key




INDEX OF FIGURES Figure 1. Way of the Cross, circa 1909. Looking north. Brown County Historical Society Figure 2. Way of the Cross, circa 1910. Looking north to Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Private collection. Figure 3. Way of the Cross, circa 1910. Looking north on the lower path. Private collection. Figure 4. Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother, circa 1915. Looking northeast. Private collection. Figure 5. Interior, Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. The original decoration was completed by artist Christian Heller. In 1927 the interior was repainted by an unknown artist who used a scene of Jerusalem that incorporates the stars of the original painting. The original altar remains intact. Private collection. Figure 6. The Lady of Lourdes Grotto, circa 1912. Private collection. Figure 7. Station VII, circa 1912. All original elements remain in place except for the glass and the cross on the top. Six of the crosses were damaged and replaced with Artstone reproductions in 1993-94. Private collection. Figure 8. Station of the Cross, St. Donatus, Iowa. This dates from 1861. Figure 9. Station of the Cross, Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon. This dates from 1889. Figure 10. Way of the Cross station, St. Nicholas Church, New Market, Minnesota. In 1905 one year after the New Ulm Way of the Cross was completed, Rev. Alexander Berghold hired August Puhlmann (the same contractor) to build a similar shrine at his church. Figure 12. Sanborn Insurance Map, 1913. In 1912 Loretto Hospital opened, while the old hospital building became the St. Alexander Home. Figure 13. Rev. Alexander Berghold was an avid horticulturalist. This photograph was taken in New Ulm in the 1880s. Brown County Historical Society.




Figure 1: Way of the Cross, 1909




Figure 2: Way of the Cross, circa 1910




Figure 3: Entrance to the Way of the Cross, circa 1934




Figure 4: Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother, circa 1915




Figure 5: Interior of Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother, circa 1912

Figure 6: Lady of Lourdes Groot, circa 1915







Figure 7: Station VII, 1911




Figure 8: Station of the Cross, St. Donatus, Iowa




Figure 9: Station of the Cross, Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon




Figure 10: Way of the Cross, St. Nicholas Church, New Market, Minnesota




Figure 11. Sanborn Insurance Map, 1913. Note the bluff line on the lower right. There is a note on the map: “475 feet to 1-story brick chapel on hill.”




Figure 13. Rev. Alexander Berghold

1 of 18The Way of the Cross_0001Entrance off 5th Street N. Camera facing northwest.

2 of 18The Way of the Cross_0002View from entrance to rear of New Ulm Medical Center. Camera facing northeast.

3 of 18The Way of the Cross_0003Walkway to Way of the Cross. Camera facing north-northwest.

4 of 18The Way of the Cross_0004Way of the Cross, halfway up the hill. Camera facing south and parking lot.

5 of 18The Way of the Cross_0005Station #8: Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem. Camera facing southwest.

6 of 18The Way of the Cross_0006rear of Station #4. Camera facing southeast.

7 of 18The Way of the Cross_0007detail of Station #4. Camera facing southwest.

8 of 18The Way of the Cross_0008Lourdes Grotto. Camera facing southwest.

9 of 18The Way of the Cross_0009Station #3,:Jesus falls for the first time. Camera facing northeast.

10 of 18The Way of the Cross_0010Way of the Cross from top of hill. Camera facing south.

11 of 18The Way of the Cross_0011Way of the Cross and Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing north.

12 of 18The Way of the Cross_0012Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing northeast.

13 of 18The Way of the Cross_0013Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing southwest.

14 of 18The Way of the Cross_0014Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Detail on north elevation. Camera facing northeast.

15 of 18The Way of the Cross_0015Interior, Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother.

16 of 18The Way of the Cross_0016Interior, Chapel of Our Sorrowful Mother. Camera facing south.

17 of 18The Way of the Cross_0017Way of the Cross and retaining wall. Camera facing northwest.

18 of 18The Way of the Cross_0018view from the Way of the Cross to Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Camera facing east

Documents

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States … of the Cross Reduced_tcm36-388885.pdf“The Agony of the Cross,” and the Lady of Lourdes Grotto, one building, the Chapel of Our