St. Bridget Catholic Church

St. Bridget Catholic Church, Logansport, Indiana

St. Bridget Church on Wheatland Avenue.

Bishop Joseph Dwenger was ordained the Bishop of Fort Wayne Diocese in 1872. He was the first Bishop in Indiana to be born in the United States. It was Bishop Dwenger who saw to the building of St. Bridget Church in Logansport. He realized that many Catholics were living on Logansport's west side.

In 1873 Bishop Dwenger bought a city block from Judge David Dykeman for $5,000. The area was the 700 block of Wheatland and Linden Avenues.

The next event was the arrival of Father Bernard Kroeger, who was sent to Logansport to form that church on the west side - for about 45 Irish families. He saw to it that a church was erected on Wheatland Avenue at a cost of $12,000.

This structure would serve as a church, school, residence for the Sisters of Holy Cross and his own residence. This church was dedicated August 15, 1876.

The early St. Bridget Church building is described: "the building had a church on the top floor. The Priest's residence, sister's residence and two classrooms were on the lower floor."

In 1877 the Rosary and Alter Society was organized at St. Bridget.

In 1878 Fr. Anthony J. H. Kroeger was appointed as assistant to Fr. Bernard Kroeger at St. Bridget.

In 1891 A brick social building was built on Heath Street behind the parsonage.

In 1893 Fr. Kroeger built the St. Bridget parsonage at 700 Wheatland Avenue.

In 1896 the Sisters of St. Francis came to teach at St. Bridget School replacing the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Fr. Peter Quinn began a financial drive to build a new St. Bridget Church. The cornerstone was laid August 15, 1916. By October 21, 1917, the church was completed. Carl Horn was the architect and Frank Medland was the general contractor. The church cost $50,000.

St. Bridget Gets A New School
When the old St. Bridget school had become completely inadequate as a school and structurally unsafe Bishop Carberry instructed that a new school be built on the St. Bridget grounds. This was 1961. A building campaign was begun and funds were donated.

January 19, 1962, Logansport Press, page 1:

Construction of a new school at St. Bridget's parish is slated to begin this spring, according to the Reverend Father Francis Meehan, pastor.

Preliminary approval has been given plans for the building which will be located at Wilkinson and West Linden. Maximum dimensions of the one-story structure, according to Medland and Bowman, architects, are 138 by 163 feet. It will have masonry block walls, with brick and stone facing on the exterior.

The entrance will be on Wilkinson street. Plans call for six classrooms, a meeting room, a multi-purpose room, office, teachers room, library, supply room, shower and locker rooms, kitchen and food storage room and boiler room.

Bids will be received and contracts let in early March. It is anticipated that the new building will be completed by the start of the school year in the fall. The remainder of the ground extending to Heath street will be prepared to be used as a combination major playground and parking lot.

Another playground for smaller Children will be located at the northeast corner of Wheatland

and Wilkinson, site of the present school.

Two existing buildings will be razed. First to go will be the one story brick building facing Linden avenue ,which was used for many decades as a parish hall, for commencement exercises, music recitals and later as a gymnasium. It has not been in use for some years.

Shortly after this term of school closes the present school building at Wheatland and Wilkinson will be torn down. This red brick building was erected in 1875 and housed both the school and church until 1918 when the present church was built.

The upper floor of the two-story structure has been used for meetings and bazaars. These will be held in the multi-purpose room of the new school. Church councilmen, assisting the pastor in the long-range program, include: Joe Moritz, Harry Castaldi, Thomas Medland and Pete Conroy.

In 1985 All Saints Parish was formed in an administrative unit. The school system became known as All Saints Catholic School with Sister Mary Faith as principal. In 1986 ST. Joseph Church was selected as the worship site for the Catholic Community of Logansport. All Saints Church was created.

In April of 2000 a notice under "building permits" in the local paper indicated that the church, 700 Wheatland Avenue, was to be razed.

St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church

St. Vincent Church, Rectory and first School

805 Spencer Street, Logansport, Indiana

Priest Residence, Church and School St. Vincent Spencer Street

Logansport, Indiana.

The early Wabash valley settlers and founders of St. Vincent’s were the French followers of Robert de la Salle who was accompanied by Father Gabrielle Rebourde, Father Zenobe Membre, French priests. One of the first white settlers among the area Indians was Jacques LaSalle in 1778. Then his son Hyacinthe LaSalle moved his family here from Vincennes in 1833. Hyacinthe and his wife were charter members of St. Vincent’s. They were also publishers of the local newspaper the “Canal Telegraph”.

Julia and Hyacinth Lasalle/LaSelle, charter members

Irish names began to appear with the arrival of such families as the Leamys, the Murphys, and then the Quigleys; in fact the first Catholic marriage recorded was on October 11, 1836 between Mary Murphy and Joseph B. Quigley.

It was the building of the Wabash and Erie Canal, during the years 1827 to 1838, that brought the Irish to St. Vincent’s. The first church structure was a stone building on Duret Street, which is long gone but would’ve been in the general area, a bit west of the present church structure location.

In 1860 lots were purchased to build the present day church. The first construction of the present church had a southwest door opening to the canal. The Irish families were the predominating ethnic group for many years.

The following is from the Logansport Journal of May 19, 1860: “the Catholic congregation is erecting a fine building near the old graveyard which will be creditable to the church and an ornament to the town.” (The old graveyard referred to is the historic Ninth Street Cemetery.)

On Saturday, July 14, 1860 the Logansport Journal stated: “The corner stone of the new Catholic church will be laid with imposing ceremonies tomorrow at 3 o’clock. Services will be conducted by Bishop Luers of Fort Wayne and others. Bishop Spalding of Louisville is also expected. Sermons in English and German will be preached.”

Later on Saturday, July 18, 1863 the Logansport Journal stated: “St. Vincent’s church will be dedicated tomorrow, the 19^th.”

The church then constructed as it stands today is of the Gothic style of architecture.

Father George Hamilton, Pastor of St. Vincent from 1859 to 1864.

Italian names appear in both the parish records, but the first at St. Vincent’s seems to have been noticed when railroaders and limestone workers arrived in Cass County. Names such as Ricci, Buccigrossi, Perfetto, Vitelli, Scagnoli, Mittica, Appolonio, Rozzi and Pasquale were Italian pioneers at St. Vincents.

The first black family to enter the records at St. Vincent was that of Aloysius and Viola Dunn who came to Logansport in the 1930s from the Bardstown KY diocese. Their oldest son, Al Jr., became the president of the first parish council in 1968.

Al Dunn Jr. and family. He became president of the first parish council in 1968.

Above: St. Joseph Catholic Church is All Saints Church as of 2017.

St. Joseph Church comes along in 1869

In 1869 an offshoot of St. Vincent’s developed at the corner of 2^nd and E. Market streets named in honor of St. Joseph. (This Catholic Church is the only one that remains in Logansport Indiana as of 2017, it is called All Saints. It is the consolidation of what had been three Catholic churches in Logansport: St. Vincent’s, St. Joseph, and St. Bridget.) At the time St. Joseph’s congregation was mostly of German descent.

The Bell of St. Vincent Church

During the pastorate of Rev. Maurice de St. Palais, who later became the Bishop of Vincennes, a bell was presented by the French. (circa 1845) The French bell was originally put in place in the old stone church, then moved to the new church in the vestibule. Later the bell became a resident of the belfry of the school (next door to the church). Again it was moved due to an aging tower. In the 1940s the silver bell with the French inscription to St. Vincent’s was swung down and donated to a church in northern Indiana. (No, we do not know what church that was.)

In 1885 a new bell was donated by the parishioners and placed in the belfry of the present stone church. This genuine bronze bell tuned to the key of “d” was cast in Baltimore, Maryland and contained the names of Father Matthew Campion (pictured below), pastor and Bishop Dwenger, C.P.P.S., then Bishop of Fort Wayne.

Eventually, usage of the bell had to stop. One reason, the wooden structure in the belfry had rotted with age and couldn’t be trusted to withstand the vibrations of the 300 pounds being swung in rhythm. The other was the lack of young lads who could be counted on to rise at 6 a.m. to ring it, return at 12 noon and again at 6 p.m.

By Christmastime 1981 the bell had been renovated and reset and could once again be heard. (In 1982 the bell – a “bronze masterpiece” was estimated to be worth around $42,000.00)

First Communion class pose in front of St. Vincent with the Priest and Nuns.

St. Vincent School

For a while and previous to 1850 the children of St. Vincent parish were taught in an old frame building that stood near 4^th and Railroad streets, just east of the Pennsylvania Depot. There was one teacher – Professor Bradley – a lay instructor. Beginning in 1850 school was held in the old stone church on Duret Street. The teachers were Prof. Bradley and Jacob Rech.

The Sisters of the Holy Cross came to Logansport in 1863 at the request of Rev. George Hamilton and taught here for decades. At first Father Hamilton secured a large brick building that had been used for a hotel. It was quite a distance from the church, situated on Market Street near the Eel River. (The Cullen house.) It was here that four of the sisters assembled the children and began their work. Records for 1865 showed an enrollment of 100 pupils.

In 1869 Father Mayer erected a brick school on the parish property, a short distance west of the church. The school opened in September 1870. The Sisters of the Holy Cross were in charge.

1894 photograph of the brick St. Vincent school building. This was razed

in 1895. The new school was built in its place that same year, 1895.

In 1879 a cottage near St. Vincent church was secured for the sisters. This was used as a convent until the Walker property at 9^th and E. Broadway was purchased a year later. (Holy Angels Academy, which was a school until 1925 and strictly a convent until 1936,)

The "new" school was built in 1895.

In 1895 the school building, which still stands as of 2017 - a “new, larger and more modern” school -was built and dedicated. Dedication ceremonies took place on September 17, 1895. John Medland was awarded the contract to build at $12,935. Ground was broken April 4, 1895. Father Campion supervised every detail.

The church and school are now Emmaus Mission Center a homeless shelter.

The house which had been the Priest's home is a private residence.

In 1954 the parking lot – playground was constructed behind the school. Two wooden goal posts were torn down. The paved lot with the fence, lights and basketball hoops became quite a playground.

Parish Priest Residence

The residence was built in 1879 by Father Walters. The small frame house that formerly stood on the site was moved up to 13^th Street. Father Crosson later repaired and  and somewhat enlarged the parish residence and also added a hot water heating plant at a cost of about $4,700.

Vatican II

In 1962 the directives of the Vatican Council II filtered into the parish level, Monsignor Schall, who was the Vicar General of the Diocese during the Bishop’s absence, guided St. Vincents into this new era. The altar was turned around; the Priest faced the people; the Communion railing disappeared; English replaced Latin at Mass. All kinds of experimental music resounded and “High Mass” disappeared. The organ was sometimes replaced with guitars and clanging cymbals. Some parishioners were horrified, bewildered and disgusted, while others were exuberant and excited.

Probably the ultimate in lay activity came to St. Vincent in 1980 when extra-ordinary ministers were invested, allowing both men and women to distribute the Body and Blood of Christ, during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. These lay ministers distributed wine, while the Priest distributed the host, on most occasions.

Photo taken of St. Vincent interior for 1970 directory.

Photo above is from the 1971 church directory.

A pipe organ was added and an announcement appeared in the church bulletin on September 27, 1975.

The End of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Logansport, Indiana.
The Logansport Pharos Tribune covered a story about the suggested closing of both St. Vincent and St. Bridget churches in Logansport. The story ran June 4, 1986. Around 200 Catholic parishioners were told that the a renovation of St. Joseph church and the closing of St. Bridget and St. Vincent's would be the best financial move for the local parish. The presentation was made by Bishop William Higi who was joined by Robert Gloyeske of Walker Scholer Associates, who explained that it would not be realistic to keep all three church buildings open. The church was facing serious weekly deficit situations involved with heating church buildings during the coming winter.

Ultimately both St. Vincent and St. Bridget churches were closed. St. Vincent's buildings sold and in 1994 became Emmaus Mission - a homeless shelter operation.

St. Bridget church was razed.

New Beginning for an old building.

Mary Williams, president of Emmaus Corporation, of Medaryville, Indiana entered into a contract to purchase the former St. Vincent church, rectory and school for $75,000.  With a payment of $30,000 the contract between Emmaus Corporation and the Diocese of Lafayette was signed in the law offices of Starr, Austen and Tribbett, Logansport. 

Twenty-five thousand of the payment came from a grant to Emmaus from Brunnerdale  Tithing Fund of the Society of the Precious Blood – a religious community, according to Clarence Williams C.C. P.S. of St Anthony Catholic church in Detroit and chairperson of the BTF Committee of the society. The remaining $5,000 came from donations from individuals and businesses.

Williams’ planned for a three-phase project to shelter, feed and provide Christian based counseling to homeless girls in the former rectory, to provide a soup kitchen and banquet hall facilities in the former church, and for conversion of the former school building into a temporary home for displaced families. (This information came from an article in the Pharos Tribune, May 1, 1994.)

THE COLUMBIA HOTEL

The Columbia Hotel stood next to the Panhandle Station (aka the Pennsylvania Depot at the southern end of 4th Street) the hotel address was 318 Canal Street, Logansport, Indiana. Canal Street later became Melbourne Avenue.

I researched this hotel after finding the photo above. I found the following clips:

Charles Nye has accepted a position in the sample room at the Columbia Hotel.

   And…

A handsome street lamp was erected in front of the Columbia Hotel restaurant and dining hall.

-       Logansport Pharos Tribune, 1893 May 26, page 4

"M. McTaggart has assumed the management of the Columbia Hotel and restaurant."

-       Logansport Pharos Tribune, 1894 June 2, page 4

 

In 1896 Logansport Pharos Tribune reported that Arthur McTaggart was selling furniture and fixtures of the hotel Columbia.

1897 Logansport Times reported that Frank Beamer was now cooking at the Columbia hotel and lunch counter.

Baker & Anhier will open their new saloon in the Columbia Hotel tomorrow evening.  An elaborate lunch will be served.

-       Logansport Pharos Tribune, 1897 March 30, page 5

John Baker has improved and changed the interior of his bar room in the Columbia Hotel.

   And…

Louie Wandrei who recently purchased the lunch counter and dining hall at the Columbia Hotel has rearranged and refurnished the same in splendid style. He now has one of the neatest places of the kind ever opened in Logansport.

-       Logansport Pharos Tribune, 1897 November 1, page 8

Fire reported Sept. 28, 1899 Logansport Pharos Tribune – Someone with murderous intent turned on two gas jets at the Columbia Hotel last night and but for the timely discovery by Mr. Wandrei a terrible explosion might have resulted. Suspicion rests upon a certain individual who had better make himself scarce.

Considerable furniture recovered from the Wandrei Columbia Hotel fire remains unsold and is now stored at 518 Broadway.

-       Logansport Reporter, 1900 September 27, page 8

ReVere Automobile - The People

Dateline August 31, 1918 - Logansport Pharos Tribune
The headline read "ReVere Car Setting New World's Record"
"Baker reaches New York City  ReVere Car Makes Big Hit In the East"

"Still going with ever increasing speed "Cannonball" Baker (pictured above on an Indian motorcycle)  is determined to set a world's record mark behind the wheels of a ReVere car, which will be hard to beat by any driver or auto manufactured in the country."

The following telegram which has been received from Baker who had arrived in New York City, at the time of sending, shows the rapidity Baker is making before winding up his test of the ReVere car:
New York August 30, '18
ReVere Motor Car Company
Logansport, Ind
Monday two forty one Norway, Maine. Through Green and White mountains. Tuesday three hundred twelve, Boston. Wednesday hundred fifty-five, Springfield, Mass. Judging number of admirers and inquiries concerning ReVere no question of sales output of production. Thursday one sixty-one, New York. Half round.
- E. G. Baker


                     Erwin “Cannonball” Baker. Cannonball visited all forty-eight state capitals in his 1918 ReVere  In fact, he bested the previous endurance record by an unbelievable 42 days covering a total of 16,234 miles.  Most remarkable of all “Cannonball” experienced no mechanical breakdowns.          

 

Three years later in the 1921 Indy 500, another racer, Eddie Hearne, picture above, piloted a ReVere for 111 laps.

Above: Gill Anderson, Co-Production Manager

 

 

Above: Mr. & Mrs. Adolph Monson,
Mr. & Mrs. Gil Anderson and on the right end is the seldom photographed Newton VanZandt.

 



 

Above: Tom Rooney, Co-Production Manager

ReVere "America's Incomparable Car"

None of the principals Newton VanZandt, President, Adolph Monsen, Chief Engineer, and Gil Anderson and Thomas Rooney, Production Managers were originally from the Logansport, Indiana area. But when C. H. Wilson, a Chicago lumber company man, visited Logansport to survey an abandoned lumber yard and planning mill as a possible factory, he reported that there were enough local citizens willing to invest in the company to raise the funds for the building locally.

On August 25, 1917 the first bare chassis powered by a Duesenberg racing engine drove the streets of Logansport with Adolph Monsen at the wheel. That chassis was then driven to Racine, Wisconsin, where the body was installed and the finished auto was brought back and displayed at the 1917 Cass County Fair to much acclaim of the citizens.

March 1917, Headlines on page 1 of the Logansport-Pharos Reporter explained that the Logansport, Indiana "town fathers" were hoping to entice an auto factory to locate in this city.

Stock Certificate

Above is a drawing of the plan for the proposed automobile factory.

A WHIRLWIND CAMPAIGN GETS BIG AUTO FACTORY

Booster Committee Selling Stock Had $20,000 this Afternoon and Was Still Going Strong - In Good Shape

BIG HOPES FOR THE CITY

APRIL 2, 1917 LOGANSPORT PHAROS-REPORTER, PAGE 1:

"The Revere Motor Company will locate its plant at 'The Point' on the ground formerly occupied by the Bligh Lumber Company. This has been settled by the selling of $25,000 of stock in the city of Logansport and besides the sale of this necessary amount of stock, today a large number of subscriptions for stock in excess of the $25,000 was taken."

The Point was/is on First and E. Melbourne Streets at the confluence of the Wabash and Eel Rivers.

The article continues..."With the landing of this million dollar plant, the first appearance of the Greater Logansport is noted, and it is certain that following closely upon this will come other big projects and the city will begin to boom."

With the ink barely dry on the incorporation papers, ground was broken for the company's 33,000 sq. ft. factory complex on May 2, 1917.

Logansport Citizens Listed as The Men Behind The Car:

W. H. Porter, President National City Bank

R. R. Johnston, Secy.-Treas. Parker & Johnston Lumber Co.

E. F. Metzger, Publisher Logansport Daily Tribune

Edward Hankee, Cashier Citizens Loan & Trust Company

Dr. W. A. Holloway, Physician

J. F. Murdock. President Legal Loan Company

A. A. Seagraves, Farmer

C. C. Bishop, Real Estate Dealer

Benjamin F. Long, Attorney

Roy Johnson, President Johnson Baking Company

Sol. O. Cook, Manager Obenchain-Boyer Chemical Company

A. L. Jones, President Northern Realty Company

Chas. E. Yarlott, Attorney

Frank Amoss, Expert Accountant

Wm. O. Murdock, Merchant

Dr. J. W. Stewart, Physician

B. F. Sharts, Manager Fenton Investment Company

J. W. Rodgers, Proprietor Rodgers' Department Store

Victor S. Wise, Treasurer Wiler & Wise, Inc.

A. F. Rothstein, Secretary Chamber of Commerce

To promote the engineering and capabilities of the ReVere, VanZandt hired Erwin "Cannonball" Baker to drive a ReVere in what was promoted as the "Capital to Capital Test Trip". On June 12, 1918 "Cannonball" Baker left Indianapolis. He covered 17,000 miles, visited all 48 capitals ending on September 13, 1918, in Frankfort, Kentucky.

The first production ReVere rolled off of the line in the spring of 1919 at a base price of $3,850. Orders were being placed faster than the factory could produce them. Monsen insisted on personally inspecting each one.

Inside Logansport's ReVere Factory

The ReVere was a well engineered, well built, quality automobile. Special order autos were built as well. King Alphonso XIII of Spain, a racing automobile enthusiast, ordered a model named the Sport Victoria at a cost of $7,800. In May 1920, ReVere sponsored a four cylinder Duessenberg racer at the Indianapolis 500. It was driven by Peter Henderson and finished 10th.

WHAT HAPPENED?

So why did the company last less than a decade and end in bankruptcy? Most historians  point the finger at the President VanZandt. VanZandt was an unscrupulous promoter who played fast and loose with the truth.

Advertisements of the ReVere bore no resemblance to the actual model built.

Protoypes were presented that had yet to be built in the factory.

Hard sell promotion turned to fraud when VanZandt claimed at a September 1919

meeting of the Logansport Industrial Association that an unnamed "Eastern

syndicate" had signed a five year contract to purchase $45 million worth of

ReVere Cars and that a deposit for 1,000 cars had been received.

After stock prices soared and investors scurried to get on board it was discovered

the "golden Eastern syndicate" was a dummy corporation set up by VanZandt himself.

BY 1922 LAW SUITS WERE BEING FILED ALMOST FASTER

THAN AUTOMOBILES WERE BEING MADE.

OCTOBER 1922, CASS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT DECLARED REVERE

MOTOR CAR COMPANY BANKRUPT AND LOCKED THE DOORS. AFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS IN RECEIVERSHIP THE REVERE MOTOR CAR CORP.  WAS SOLD AT AUCTION NOVEMBER 22ND FOR $52,000 TO THE REVERE STOCKHOLDER ASSOCIATION.

Why bother? Maybe because of the strong belief in the automobile held by Adolph Monsen, who remained convinced of the car's quality, capabilities and continued promise. Monsen would assume greater visibility as vice-president and general manager of the newly-established ReVere Motors Co., Inc. Others involved at this point were Charles E. Barnes, President, Harry A. Kraut, treasurer and Fred J. Steffens, secretary. (Monsen's former co-partners, Rooney and Anderson, had left months earlier.)

RE-INCORPORATED FEBRUARY 1923

Logansport Pharos Tribune, March 2, 1923, Page 1:

Only 54 cars were built in 1922. Only 16 in 1923.

For almost two years after the company had all but vanished.

The ReVere wasn't even regarded as a viable automaker- not surprising in view of its 16 car output in 1923.

"A mechanical dinosaur"

Unchanged almost since its inception, the car was of little interest even to those few who were aware of its existence. Honestly, the ReVere was outdated. More suited to the track than the boulevard, those to whom a $4,000 car appealed found more to their liking in a Lincoln, Marmon or Cadillac than in the ReVere.

Above: Logansport Press, December 27, 1925, page 8

Above clip announcing the sale of parts - Logansport Pharos Tribune, April 16, 1926, page 10

FACTORY BUILDING BURNS may 28, 1940

THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS OF THE AFTERMATH WERE

TAKEN BY THE FAMILY OF ROBERT KENDALL,

WHO LIVED NEAR THE BUILDING.

THE LOGANSPORT PRESS main headline for May 28, 1940 read “Local Fire Loss Fixed at $375,000”. The fire alarm came in at 3:20 a.m. and when fire fighters arrived the flames had spread through the corner of the building at 1st and E. Melbourne occupied by government entities renting office space from the buildings owner, the local contractor, James I. Barnes.
It was reportedly the worse fire in Logansport’s history and wiped out almost a complete half block of Barnes’ factory buildings.

Occupants of the buildings, besides Barnes were Shulder & Schloss garment factory; RBM Manufacturing warehouse, and the U.S. government conservation quarters.

The fire spread so quickly that by 4:30 a.m. the three-story brick and concrete structure adjoining on the west, was in ruins, and the RBM warehouse even further west was a mass of flames. It was quite a battle, but the fire fighters managed to save the Small Bakery building at the end of the string.

Witnesses said that all three floors appeared to take fire all at once. With the building blazing, the brick structure to the west was doomed. All was destroyed.

Elliott Wholesale warehouse faced 1st Street and burned quickly. The fire was accompanied by the explosion of gasoline tanks in cars and the bursting of canned goods in the grocery warehouse.

Above: In 1998 the citizens of Logansport and Cass County, Indiana worked together to raise money to purchase this 1920 touring car ReVere (photo credit Rich Voorhees Studio) from a private individual living in Nevada. It is now among the Cass County Historical Society collection. This year, 2017, the CCHS and community will celebrate the short-lived company's history on August 26. MORE TO COME....