Charter Oak - St. Boniface

In the western corner of Crawford County the community of Charter Oak was established in 1881. The Catholic families in the area immediately saw the need and the opportunity to establish a parish community. These families who would become founders of St. Boniface Parish are still represented in the community today. The main organizers were: J. Simmons, J. Ullerich, A. Jobken, A. Topf, J. Kraemer, P. Sasges, O. Staley, F. Copps and E. Ohnimus.

Forty acres of land was purchased four miles east of town with the intent of erecting the church upon that sight. With the wisdom of Msgr. B. Lenihan, who was at that time pastor of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Denison, it was encouraged for the families to purchase three lots in town and build the church within the Charter Oak community.

The church was erected in 1899 by the parish community, at a total cost of $2,000. With its completion, St. Boniface became a mission church with Father M. J. Farrely of St. Rose in Denison as its pastor.

In 1896, St. Boniface's Father Castello was named the first resident pastor. At the time, no rectory had yet been built and Father Castello took residence in a house in Charter Oak. Two years later, Father Cooper was named pastor and under his leadership a rectory was built.

Three acres of land were bought in 1908 to establish a parish cemetery. It was also in 1908 that the church was hit by lightning and was completely destroyed by fire. Father Schenkelberg had just been named pastor only to arrive to find no church. Luckily, Father Schenkelberg found his parishioners ready and enthusiastic to build a new church.

The new church began with the purchase of land for $770 on the southwest corner of Charter Oak, where the church stands today. The previous three lots were sold as was the old rectory for $3,500. An architect from Dubuque, Martin Herr, was hired and a Romanesque church began to be built. Fifteen months later, at a cost of $13,000, the church was completed and Mass was celebrated for the first time on Oct. 31, 1909. A new rectory was also built at a cost of $2,800.

In 1913, Father Schaefer became pastor and recognizing the poor transportation between Denison and Charter Oak, saw a great concern for the education of the parish children. A school building was erected west of the church at a cost of $7,000. The building would also have accommodations to house the Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque who came to teach. It also was used as a boarding house for students during the week who came from other places. The enrollment was 45 students.

There have been 23 pastors at St. Boniface. They are Fathers Schafer, Lenchan, Farrelly, Castello, Cooper, Eckart, Schenkelberg, Schafer, Anthofer, Roder, Arndorfer, Schumacher, and Ahumann.

Also, Fathers O'Brine, Kneip, Nemmers, Thiele, Lisowski, Walding, Wingert, Meinen and Jensen. The present pastor is Father Richard Ball.