Built 1861 Opened 1861 Added to NRHP 13 October 1988 | NRHP Reference # 88001838 | |
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Location 1081 County Trunk SNew Fane, Wisconsin | ||
St. Matthias Mission is a historic rural Catholic mission church located near New Fane, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
In the 1850s a cluster of immigrants from Bengel, Prussia settled around what is now called New Fane, engaging in farming. In 1861, 24 of these German-Catholic families built the nave of St. Matthias, of logs. At the consecration in 1863 the collection totaled 98 cents.
For the first ten years St. Matthias was served by Rev. John (Johann Baptist) Reindl (1827–1891) of Immaculate Conception in West Bend. Some time before 1888 the log walls were covered with milled weatherboard.
In 1888 the tower was added, with a frame of vertical posts and cross-timbers connected by mortise and tenon. Like the main church body, it is sheathed in weatherboard. In the tower hangs an 1883 bell and on top stands a cross.