Editing St. Joseph, Minnesota (section)

==History==
Originally home to the native [[Dakota people]] until the signing of the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]] in 1851, St. Joseph was laid out in 1855.

Writing in 1997, [[Jewish-American]] historian of America's religious architecture [[Marilyn J. Chiat]] described early settlement in the region, "Father [[Francis Xavier Pierz|Francis X. Pierz]], a missionary to [Native Americans] in central Minnesota, published a series of articles in 1851 in German Catholic newspapers advocating Catholic settlement in central Minnesota. Large numbers of immigrants, mainly [[Germans|German]], but also [[Slovenians|Slovenian]] and [[Polish people|Polish]], responded. Over 20 parishes where formed in what is now Stearns County, each centered on a church-oriented hamlet. As the farmers prospered, the small frame churches were replaced by more substantial buildings of brick or stone... Stearns County retains in its German character and is still home to one of the largest rural Catholic populations in Anglo-America."<ref> Marilyn J. Chiat (1997), ''America's Religious Architecture: Sacred Places for Every Community'', Preservation Press. Page 146.</ref>

St. Joseph was named by early German and Slovenian settlers after the [[patron saint]] of their newly erected log chapel.<ref name="Upham 526">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog |title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |last=Upham |first=Warren |year=1920 |page=[https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog/page/n543 526]}}</ref> 

Pioneer settlement in St. Joseph is very important to the history of the [[Slovenian diaspora]]. Fr. Pierz had previously brought with him from Slovenia his 12-year-old nephew Joseph Notsch Jr., the son of his sister, Mrs. Apollonia Notsch. Joseph Notsch would accompany him on his trips, assist by serving [[Tridentine Mass|Mass]], and when necessary do the cooking. In 1855, Notsch's parents and siblings became the first Slovenian family to emigrate to the [[New World]], and carried with them an altarpiece for Fr. Pierz which had been painted by [[Matevž Langus]]. The Notsch family, however, was accused of foolishness by [[Janez Bleiweis]] in the [[Ljubliana]] newspaper ''Novice''. Apollonia Notsch, however, later wrote a famous letter from her family's [[homesteading|homestead]] in St. Joseph, describing the family's passage on the immigrant ship, her impressions of frontier life in the [[Minnesota Territory]], and expressed joy for having emigrated to America. The letter was published by Janez Bleiweis in the newspaper ''Novice'', and convinced many other [[Slovene people]] to follow the Notsch family's lead.<ref name="a263">{{cite web | last=Brinkman | first=Marilyn Salzl | title=Family ties remain to priest who promoted settlement | website=sctimes.com | date=2017-09-19 | url=https://www.sctimes.com/story/life/2017/09/19/family-ties-remain-priest-who-promoted-settlement-central-minnesota/646395001/ | access-date=2024-07-18}}</ref><ref> Apollonia Notsch biographical file, Archive Room, Stearns County Historical Society, [[St. Cloud, Minnesota]].</ref>

According to Fr. Bruno Riss (1829-1900), a [[Benedictines|Benedictine]] missionary priest from [[Augsburg]], in the [[Kingdom of Bavaria]] and founding father of St John's Abbey, the May 1856 arrival of the first Benedictine priests in the area at the invitation of Bishop [[Joseph Crétin]] was opposed by some local Catholic pioneers. This was because many local settlers had been [[tenant farming|tenant farmers]] in the [[States of the German Confederation|German States]] and had emigrated to America seeking to own the farmland on which they worked. Recalling that [[religious order]]s in Germany had often been their landlords and fearing that the Benedictine order might turn them back into tenant farmers, the parishioners wrote to the Bishop, "begging him not to impose monks on them". The Bishop, however, was outraged and placed St. Joseph under an [[interdict]] until after the parishioners apologized in August 1856. The Benedictines, however, successfully won the trust of local settlers by regularly helping them to both choose and defend their new [[homesteading|homestead]]s.<ref> Fr. Bruno Riss, O.S.B., ''The First Beginning of St. John's Abbey'', "Saint Johns University Record", February 1889.</ref>

After the lifting of the interdict against St. Joseph, the first [[Rocky Mountain locust]] plague to strike Central Minnesota began on the [[Feast of the Assumption]] of 15 August 1856, during the preaching of a mission by Father [[Francis Xavier Weninger]] inside the newly erected [[Church of St. Joseph (St. Joseph, Minnesota)|log chapel]]. The Rocky Mountain locusts darkened the sky and pounded upon the rooftop of the chapel so incredibly loud that they were mistaken for a thunder and hailstorm. Only after the mission did the real reason for the "storm" become apparent, and the clouds of "hoppers" swiftly devoured both the crops and much of the seed grain, which left the newly arrived [[German-American]] Catholic settlers of the region destitute.<ref> Fr. Bruno Riss, O.S.B., ''The First Beginning of St. John's Abbey'', "Saint Johns University Record", March 1889 and April 1889.</ref>

St. Benedict's Academy at Saint Joseph was a [[American Indian boarding schools|Native American residential school]] that was operated in St. Joseph by the [[College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University|College of Saint Benedict]], opening in 1884.  The school held [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] women and taught them traditional school subjects, like spelling, reading, and math, as well as sewing, ornamental needlework, baking, cooking, laundry, dairy-work, and gardening.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Interactive Digital Map of Indian Boarding Schools |url=https://boardingschoolhealing.org/digitalmap/ |access-date=2024-06-06 |website=The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Land Acknowledgement |url=https://www.csbsju.edu/sustainability/about-the-sustainability-office/land-acknowledgement |access-date=2024-06-06 |website=College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University |language=en}}</ref>  

St. Joseph was incorporated in 1890<ref name="Upham 526" /> and contains three properties listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]: the 1869 stone [[Church of St. Joseph (St. Joseph, Minnesota)|Church of St. Joseph]], the 1918 [[First State Bank (St. Joseph, Minnesota)|First State Bank]] building, and a district of historic buildings at [[Saint Benedict's Monastery (St. Joseph, Minnesota)|Saint Benedict's Monastery]] and College built between 1882 and the 1920s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Minnesota National Register Properties Database |url=http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/nrhp/ |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |year=2009 |access-date=June 12, 2018}}</ref>