Saint John's Pioneer Cemetery

Saint John's Pioneer Cemetery. National Historic Site. , Glandorf. ”Little Germany", was founded in America in 1834 by settlers from the area of Glandorf, Niedersachen, Germany, under the leadership of the Rev. Johann Wilhelm Horstmann, they were part of the largest ethic immigration to America from 1820 until 1910 - nearly five-and-a-half million people!, This tract of land, where you are standing, soon became the center for the community. A number of wooden churches served the growing congregation, following the death of Fr. Horstmann in 1843, the former student and pastor. The Rev. George Boehne, began construction in 1846 of a 90 x 50 foot brick structure. Complete with three altars and bell tower, like the early log churches, this church was located in the north-east corner of this property. Prior to 1900 all burials were in the area of these early churches. The 1846 structure served the congregation until 1878, when the current gothic church was completed. Later, Fr. Horstmann's remains were re-interred within the white marble monument which marks the site of the main altar of the previous churches., By the 1950's the early gravestones had fallen to ruin. Many had been removed to the rear of the property, resulting in an unkempt appearance. As a fitting tribute to the early pioneers, the Rev. Otto Brockman, C.PP.S., as pastor, proposed the erection of a shrine honoring the pioneers and the mother of god under the title "Mother of Grace.” in August 1954. Norbert Sager, William Gulker and Leo Ellerbrock fashioned the shrine utilizing the early monuments., The complex serves as a fitting tribute to the Glandore Pioneers who, while enduring unknown hardships, planted the Roman Catholic faith here in the wilderness of Northwestern Ohio., By an act of congress in 1976 this area, the church, the rectory and the former convent were declared national historic site - the first so honored in the Nineteen-County Diocese of Toledo.