News: Clark Co. - Historical Society (Gala - 1980)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Logan, Anderson, Anderegg, Boehnen, Denk, Weyer

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 11/20/1980

Clark Co. Historical Society (Gala - 1980)

The annual meeting of the Clark County Historical Society is slated for Thursday, December 4, at the Clark Electric Co-op auditorium, Greenwood. Featured will be the raffling off of a quilt, donated by the Blue Sky Garden Club of Colby, during the Christmas season gathering.

The November meeting of the society was held at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Loyal. Following a business meeting, the Rev. James Logan conducted a tour of the sanctuary and reviewed highlights of the church’s architecture. He called attention to the pillars, the Romanesque arches and the changes in the arrangement of the ritualistic articles.

Following the padre’s tour, Diane Anderson gave a summary of the history of the parish. Early Catholic services were held in a log schoolhouse two miles west of Loyal. The first catechism class was held in 1889 when there were 25 families in the congregation.

St. Balthasar’s, the first Catholic Church in Loyal, was constructed in 1893 at a cost of $1,500 for the brick veneer building. On May 2, 1932, the present edifice was built and dedicated to St. Anthony.

A copy of the church’s history was presented to the society, which is attempting to gather church history from across the county into a single repository.

Lunch was served by Diane Anderegg, Frances Boehnen, Mary Denk and Andrea Weyer.