Ann , St Denis , and St. Helen in December of 1950 Archbishop John A. Floeursh announced the establishment of St. Matthias Parish. On Febuary 24 , 1951 the Vice Chancellor to the Archbishop , Rev. William Griesbaum in the presence of the Most Reverend Charles Maloney was installed as Pastor of St. Matthias in the old farm house which for many years would serve as the rectory .The beginnings were n
ot easy but Fr. Griesbaum was fortunate in having good neighbors . Monsignor Joseph Luckett , of St. George , offered hospitality for almost a year as well as assuring the parish $15.000.00 towards the building fund , Monsignor Joseph Newman of St. Helen's as well assured Father of $10.000.00 and it was also agreed that contributions from people living within the newly created parish would be turned over to the Pastor of St. Matthias , the offering for the first week was in the amount of $84.10. An organizional meeting was then called to coordinate efforts in building the parish , in all , 120 people were in attendance and pledged their support. Volunteers came forward to renovate the old farm house as a rectory , which served this purpose untill which a new rectory was built in the 1960's . The ladies of the parish held several home showers to furnish it as well . After several other fund raising efforts soon suffient funds were available to make plans for the construction of the church and school . Although the Korean War had all but drained away stategic materials for building , and no structural steel was available this did not hinder the people of the parish in their efforts and it was then agreed that that they would put up a building under the " Do it Yourself Plan " and ground was broken for the frame church , which still stands to this day , in September 1951. As work progressed inside the church another story was unfolding as well , the stained glass windows were a gift from St. Columba Church , lumber , rafters , studding and joists came from St. Elizabeth's . A gift of an organ was made by St. Paul's in PRP and other gifts included a substantial monetary gift from The Church of Our Lady and St. Williams. Around thirty men had the church completed to the point of holding the first Mass on Easter Sunday , April 15 , 1952 . Parish picnics were also successful fund raisers , the first for St. Matthias was held on August 25 , 1952 and grossed $15.000.00 . The church AND remodeled rectory were built for a total of around $8.000.00. It soon became apparent that a larger church would have to be built , even while plans were under way for the construction of the new school . Ground was broken in 1952 and because of the planned size the parish had to borrow $320.000.00 . Walter C. Wagner and Joseph H. Potts were hired as the archetects and Hays and Nicholin the contractor . The school , for Grades 1 - 8 was opened in September 1953 with four Sisters of Charity and one lay teacher and the Archbishop formally blessed the buiding in Novemberthat same year. Attention was then turned to the new church under constuction , after the structure itself was built and with no interior furnishings the church was used as a gym and for social functions to help raise money to retire the debt. Through these efforts , along with picnics , fish frys etc. the debt was paid off in eleven years . It was soon decided that the frame church had become too small to fill the parish needs even though four Masses were celebrated each sunday . Plans were drawn up for the completion of the church interior and the purchace of new pews and once again , as in the past , the men and women of St. Matthias came together and the interior was completed to perfection . New stained glass and an air conditioning system were later installed as well as an "electronic " bell system . A shrine was built in the vestibule and held the hand carved wood reproduction of Michelangelo's " Pieta " , the statue , which came from Italy was made possible by the generous donations of two parishioners . The woodwork in the church was of African mahogany as well as the altars ,communion rail and confessionals . The backdrops of the altars were of St. Meinrad sandstoneas well as the baptisimal font. The large hand carved crucifix over the High Altar and the Stations of the Cross were all purchased as individual gifts by parishioners. Many groups through the years have called St. Matthias home , these include , The Altar Society , the PTA , Men's Club as well as the Boy and Girl Scouts just to name a few . Assisting in the spiritual growth of the parish were the many Associate Pastors that St. Matthias was privileged to have had through the years , these were ,, the Reverends Joseph Voor , Bernard Craycroft , Joseph Lyon , Lawerence Lindle , Harold Spalding , James French , Henry Mitchell ,William Hogan and Msgr. Joseph Wheatley . St. Matthias was also privileged to have had four sons of the parish ordained as priests , these were , the Reverends Robert Mills , Charles Bindner , Eugene Zoeller and Robert Stuempel . Three daughters of the parish also entered into religious societies , these were , Particia Vondehaar , Joan Jansing , Mary Peter and Adeline Fehribach. Final note ,,,, this written history because of resources readily available to me mostly encompasses the years of Fr. Griesbaum's pastorate and in no way intends to ignore the many contributions of the Pastors who followed him , namely , Reverend John Gephart , pastor from 1980 - 1991 and Reverend Eugene Scheich , pastor from 1991 - 2007 and if anyone reading this has ANYTHING that can be added , photo's , historical facts etc. ,, please feel free to do so . Thanks , and I hope you enjoy this site as much as I did in putting it together .
