Page 6 - GC-May-June-2022

German places you should know about:
St. John the Baptist/St. John Neumann Chapel in Kenmore

by Martin Ederer
t. John the Baptist Parish on
Englewood Ave. just outside
SKenmore is inextricably
linked with Saint John Neumann. It
had already officially come into ex-
istence as a community the year
before his arrival as pastor in 1837.
German Catholics had settled the
North Bush area in 1827, and Rev.
John Nicholas Mertz of Lamb of
God Church (St. Louis) in Buffalo
visited to tend to the spiritual needs
of the small community. In 1833 the
North Bush community built a small
log church, a replica of which now
stands at the Amherst Museum.
When St. John Neumann arrived to
become pastor of SS. Peter and Paul
in Williamsville in 1836, the North St. John Neumann Chapel. The new St. John the Baptist Parish on Englewood Ave.
Bush chapel became a mission to
SS. Peter and Paul. Western New York seems to have had hoped for, but the North Bush niently located St. Paul was op of Philadelphia in 1852. In 1927
Neumann’s administrative head- figured prominently in his decision location now had to beg for and established, making the future of the Klauder petitioned Bishop William
aches quickly grew at Williams- – the North Bush chapel again be- borrow priests from elsewhere. stone chapel bleak. Turner to save the church and con-
ville. Besides his work visiting came a mission to SS. Peter and By 1853, it had become a mis- Rev. Henry Laudenbach, found- sequently the bishop named him the
far-flung German-speaking Catho- Paul in Williamsville. By 1849, the sion of the new parish of St. Joseph er of St. Paul, eventually discovered second pastor in the parish’s 91-
lic communities ranging from Wyo- log chapel that served Neumann’s its people had played a critical role a use for the deteriorating chapel, year history.
ming and Genesee counties to Erie little congregation had grown too in establishing. In 1865, it became a and opened it for devotions on Sun- The small church reopened as a
and Niagara counties and oversee- small, and as the growing mission mission of St. Francis of Assisi in day afternoons, but the chapel need- newly formed parish on May 22,
ing church construction in at least a discussed a larger church, it divided. Tonawanda, and later still became ed serious structural attention. Most 1927. By then, the old North Bush
few of those locations, he had to Many of the North Bush resi- once again a mission of St. Joseph. importantly, it needed someone to swamps showed promise of growth,
contend with “tribal” hostility in dents had already moved to better The North Bush chapel was advance the little chapel’s cause. and in the postwar building boom,
Williamsville (Neumann was from farmland at Elysville (centered at clearly struggling. In 1892, the inev- That person was Rev. Charles the small chapel grew too small.
Bohemia; the majority of Williams- what is now Main St. and Engle- itable occurred: it was closed. Ac- Klauder. A Philadelphia native, he Ground was broken in 1950 for a
ville’s Catholics were Alsatian). wood Ave.) and campaigned for tion had shifted southward, closer to was well familiar with Neumann, larger New England Colonial-style
As scurrilous (and untrue) ru- building a new church at that loca- Buffalo in a growing village of Ken- who had gone on from the forests of church, which was dedicated on
mors about Neumann began to cir- tion. Many others, however, clung more, and in 1897, more conve- Western New York to become bish- April 29, 1951, that stands near the
culate in Williamsville, he had had to the original location and the old chapel.
enough. John Schmitt of North memory of the saintly Neumann.
Bush invited him to reside at their Bishop John Timon resolved the
swampy settlement. Neumann ac- debate by authorizing the establish- Schenk House historic marker planned
cepted the offer, and became pastor ment of a new parish at Elysville.
of North Bush. In the process, Wil- Construction began on that new from page 1
Erie County – in the beginning Buffalo’s Frances Folsom. In 1901,
liamsville had become a mission to church, now known as St. Joseph Two hundred years ago, on President William McKinley was
North Bush (ouch). Neumann re- University Church, in 1849. House; and many others being April 2, 1821 New York State offi- assassinated at the Pan-American
mained headquartered in North The decision to establish St. Jo- planned. cially recognized Erie County. After Exposition in Buffalo and, on Sept.
Bush before leaving Western New seph Church eventually doomed the The Schenk House the American Revolution, the Hol- 14 of that year, Theodore Roosevelt
York, whose vast, lonely forests had North Bush chapel as a parish, The Schenck House was built in land Land Company purchased 3.2 was sworn in at the Wilcox Mansion
taken a toll both on Neumann’s which nonetheless replaced its log 1822 by early pioneer and farmer million acres of land from the Sene- as the nation’s twenty-sixth Presi-
health and his spirit. chapel with a larger stone church Michael Schenck and his son Samu- ca nation of the Haudenosaunee (Ir- dent.
After Neumann left the area in (the existing chapel) around 1850. el Schenck. oquois). In 1808, New York
Once heavily-forested frontier,
1840 to enter the Redemptorist or- The split gave all parties what they Constructed in “Pennsylvania organized the western-most land as the region changed as the Erie Canal
der – loneliness in the hinterlands of German Traditional” style from lo- Niagara County. By 1821, the popu- brought prosperity and made the
cally quarried limestone, the house
was on property originally part of lation had increased so much that Niagara Frontier one of the largest
Niagara County was split. Erie shipping and rail centers in the
the Hamlet of Snyder, in the Town
of Amherst. It remained in family County, the land south of Tonawan- country. Erie County is home to
da Creek, consisted of ten towns and numerous inventors and inventions
until it was sold to the Country Club
of Buffalo in 1898. The former the Buffalo Creek Reservation. To- such as the Ball Jar, Barca Lounger
day, Erie County has twenty-five and air conditioning all originated in
Schenck property currently has
three of the original six buildings towns, three cities, two tribal territo- Buffalo. Wilson Greatbatch devel-
ries and a population of approxi- oped the implantable pacemaker in
and roughly 180 acres of the origi-
nal acres most of which is now the mately 920,000. Clarence, and Bell Aircraft was one
Erie County has ties to several of the nation’s largest suppliers of
Grover Cleveland Golf Course.
The Schenck family first arrived U.S. Presidents. Millard Fillmore aircraft during WW II.
practiced law in East Aurora before Erie County boasts many major
in America in 1709 as they fled
religious persecution for being Ana- serving as President. He returned to works by both local and national
Erie County and helped establish architects including Frank Lloyd
baptist, specifically Mennonite.
From Pennsylvania, they came to the University of Buffalo, Buffalo Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Rich-
General Hospital and the Buffalo ardson, E.B. Green, William Wicks,
Buffalo and farmed the land to
about 1900. and Erie County Historical Society. and Louise Bethune. Famous writ-
Grover Cleveland practiced law in ers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark
Reportedly, census records indi-
cate Samuel Schenck utilized tradi- Buffalo before becoming Erie Twain and Lauren Belfer have all
County Sheriff, Buffalo Mayor and called the area “home”.
tional farming technologies. They
were brought over by the German Governor of New York. He married
and Swiss settlers and included crop
rotation, co-planting, housing and
feeding cattle and animals in cold
winter months, barns with stalls,
large wagons for transporting hay, Since 1970 the Buffalo Standard Printing Booster Club
and the growing of hay. has raised funds to support our family of publications. Donors
In the mid-1800s German set- to the Press Fund will be thanked in the last issue of the year, unless
tlers, according to census informa- otherwise instructed by the donor.
tion, used a farming style utilizing MAIL TO: Buffalo Standard Printing Press Fund
both polyculture and crop rotation
as opposed to the monoculture that 3620 Harlem Road, Cheektowaga, NY 14215
was more commonly used by early I want to make sure the German Citizen continues its service
English settlers. Polyculture is the To the German-American Community.
co-planting, and planting of multi- Enclosed is my contribution of $ _____
ple types of food products on the Name:__________________________________________
same farm as had been utilized by Address_________________________________________
Central Europeans. The use of a City, State, Zip___________________________________
polyculture system along with crop
rotation allowed for higher nutrition Please { } Include
and for the land to replace nutrients. { }do not include my name in your