Some older pictures that I have...
Mary at the Crib Convent. Former Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Precious Blood
A St. Boniface First Communion class (my mother's class to be specific) in the 1960's. The priest was Fr. Leo Hoying, C.PP.S. He was the one the wreckovated the church.
A tornado hitting New Riegel in the 1950's.
St. Boniface during a cold winter. 
St. Boniface in 1935 after the original steeple was dismantled.
An old picture of St. Nicholas
St. Boniface
An old shot of the interior of St. Nicholas
St. Boniface, 1890
St. Boniface, early 1900's.
St. Boniface, 1960's.
St. Boniface right before the wreckovation.
St. Boniface, 1983
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8 comments:
All good pictures, but the tornado one is amazing.
I guess one thing I don't quite understand ... it seems like alot of those small-town churches underwent this sort of "wreckovation" ... but why were so many of those magnificent, ornate spires removed??????
For one thing, they would have taken a lot of work and a lot of money to maintain.
Plus, the same thing that happened to St. Patrick's -- they are lightning magnets, the more so in the middle of an open field.
I do understand how it can be more cost-effective for a parish to just have the thing lopped off than to put in the cost of maintenance, which was probably just alot more involved decades ago than now ... it still seems to be a shame, though, to take down those lovely spires.
Doing this as a separate post, since it's slightly off-topic (again) ... but here's a nice spire. This is in Bucyrus:
http://www.goodhopelutheran.com/
Same church again, on a historic postcard:
http://www.bucyrus-preservation.org/postcards.htm
Those are too good not to have working links. HERE and HERE.
I know that our spire in New Riegel wasn't built very well and was constantly being repaired so they just decided to take it down. I can't imagine how tall it was, since our bell tower is already tall enough to see for miles...
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