A Tribute To
St. Joseph's Church
 Town of Chase, Oconto County, WI

Welcome to the Town of Chase website. The seasons have changed, and it's now the time of the year to celebrate Christmas, and what better in the Town of Chase to represent Christmas other than the St. Joseph community Church. It has been 90 years since the little St. Josephs community has came together to build this house of worship.
The building of the St. Joseph Church began on May 30th, 1912.  July 4, 1912 saw the blessing of the cornerstone (originally named St. Cecelia) by Fr. Casimir Szypa, pastor at Flintville, who had been named by the bishop to oversee the start of the new congregation. An open-air Mass was celebrated that day for the first time on the site, as the stonewall basement was now completed; the 34' by 50' foundation was intended to serve as a social hall for the parish as well.
It was a great day for the Chase community, attended by visiting clergy, parishioners, and neighbors from the area.  The bishop confirmed 20 children that day also, and named Fr. Szypa the first pastor, assigning Chase as a mission (a term no longer used in the USA) to SS Edward & Isidore Church, Flintville.  Services were to be conducted once a month; however, a year or so later it was changed to twice a month so that the priest could have catechism instructions for the youth.  It's remarkable that all of this was accomplished in seven months, the building and readying of the church!
After several meetings these men agreed to put up a frame building. with a suitable basement for socials, seating about 100 people, and a small vestibule; a belfry was to be added later. All of this, including furnishings, was not to exceed $5,000.00. Lawrence Hilbert donated two acres of land for the church lot and an acre and a half for the cemetery. Lawrence Hilbert also gave $100.00 "spot cash." Louis Blaser gave a substantial donation of $350.00 to the building fund, and the rest of the parishioners contributed equally to make up a sum of $1,000.00 contribution.
Joseph Wolf. a skilled mason, built the basement as his "proportionate contribution."  The Catholic Church Extension Society of Chicago donated a mission altar and $500.00. a considerable sum of money at that time! Because this donation required the church to be named in honor of St. Joseph, the name was changed from St Cecelia (usually the bishop chooses names for new parishes) to St. Joseph. Quotes are from Fr. Cyril's notes. Since there was no pastor's residence, Lawrence and Emma Hilbert made their home available for visiting clergy whenever necessary. The old Blaser home was large and burned to the ground in the 1920s -Larry Hilbert's farm is the present-day site. Mary and Ann Hilbert, now deceased, witnessed the early years/beginning of the parish before moving to Milwaukee.
The belfry dome was not completed until 1918 when a 575-lb bell was purchased. It is dedicated and engraved to SS Peter & Paul, patrons of Bishop Paul Peter Rhode, who succeeded Bishop Fox in 1915. It is not recorded who blessed the bell; however. Fr. Constantine Klukowski, OFM, a former pastor. maintained that Msgr.  Joseph Marx, vicar general of the diocese, blessed either the cemetery or bell or both.
The next major building project came in 1978 when a new entrance or gathering space was added. Fr. Kenneth Rodgers was pastor and Vernon Lhotte and Donald Kraszewski were trustees. The 15' addition was of great benefit because it also included indoor toilets for the first time! The building now measures 34' x 85'!
Through the years the church on count C has gone through many changes, and so has our community. And as this Christmas season progresses let us spend some time and look around us and remember what it took to make our community.

-History courtesy of Lester Blaser Jr.