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Stuenkel Homestead and Pasture

 
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roger.pape
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Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 414
Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:41 pm    Post subject: Stuenkel Homestead and Pasture Reply with quote

I received a copy of an article in the Oct. 15, 2003 issue of the Concordian written by Mel Bockelman. It contains some excellent information about the Stuenkel family and early pioneer life in Concordia. A photo of the Conrad Stuenkel farm in that article is shown below. (Unfortunately, it is a poor scan made from the photocopy. The Concordian office should have a better copy in their files.)

As most of you probably know, this farm is now the east part of the St. Paul's College/High School campus. In the far left background is the old brick church that stood on the St. Paul's Cemetery. Across the road was the Hamm School (hidden by the barn). That's the area where Shady Rest Restaurant and Motor Court was built. It was the Greyhound bus stop in the 1940s where many of the college students got their first glimpse of Concordia. I can also imagine some other sleepy passengers, being wakened as the bus screetched to a halt, looking out the window and wondering why the bus was stopping at a cemetery. Behind Shady Rest was the old town ballpark (not the St. Paul's College ballfield inside the old track). I can barely remember going to that ballpark to watch my father play ball. That was the field where the Concordia Merchants, led by "Secco" and "Slugger" Brockman, Fred Cassing, and others played many a memorable game.

Cousin Myrna gave me a picture of the Stuenkel home showing the family of our great grandparents Louis and Marie Stuenkel. They lived in the home place after Conrad. This photo, taken in the 1890s, is shown below.

Marie and Louis are seated on chairs. Standing behind them, from right to left are daughter Maria (our grandmother Mary Pape), son Edward, and Henry Meyer. I'm not sure what Henry's relationship was. Perhaps he was a hired hand. The Stuenkel family had various hired hands living with them through the years. For example, Johann Von Glahn lived with the Conrad Stuenkel family and married daughter Anna Marie Martha (Louis' youngest sister). Seated on the ground are the youngest daughter Pauline (who married Henry Schumacher) and nephew "Tader" Freund. What I find amusing about the picture is how the houseplants were brought out as props. After Louis retired, Edward took over the farm and finally his son Otto before it became part of St. Paul's College.

Another item that caught my attention in the Mel Bockelman article was how the Stuenkel children would herd the family cows across town to a pasture "on the west side of town". I remember the pasture quite well since it was next to our home. It was the area between Bismark and West Street from 4th Street to Old Highway 40. We used to spend a lot of time playing in Stuenkel's pasture. There was a ditch running through the property that eventually became a junk "holler". We would dig through it for buried treasures. It was also the spot were some of the boys would sneak a smoke. One day one of them carelessly discarded a match or cigarette butt there and started a fire. The fire raged on for quite a while until the Concordia Fire Department finally extinguished it. Lectures from the parents about smoking followed that event. John Allen eventually bought the land and built a pond on it. A lot of old memories are buried under the water there.
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