The History of Louisville Township Part 3: Merriam Junction

Merriam Junction train tracks with the train station visible in the distance, date unknown. Scott County Historical Society collection.

Like Louisville, Merriam Junction was located in the northwestern part of Louisville Township, near the present-day site of the Renaissance Festival. From its onset, the community was conceived as a transportation hub. It was located at the crossing of two major railroad lines—the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad and the St. Paul and Sioux City. The crossing was an active transfer point for regional travelers.

The community itself was not surveyed until 1866, at the behest of the rail companies. The first structures built were not stores or farm buildings, but a train depot and a rail agent’s house belonging to the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad. Because the two lines running through the junction were competitors, a second depot for the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad was built about a mile away. It wasn’t until 1878 when the original depot burned down that the two companies finally reached an agreement to share a single structure. 

The Merriam Junction train station, date unknown. Scott County Historical Society collection.

Because Merriam was a major crossing point, a community soon sprang up around the rail buildings. A store opened, along with two hotels—one in 1879 and one in 1881. Both hotel buildings were two-story, wood-framed buildings. The hotels provided meals for those with short layovers and a place to stay overnight for travelers with longer delays. A water tower and coal bin were also built for the settlement, useful for resupplying steam engines. A post office opened in 1872, run by H. H. Spencer, the former promoter of Louisville. Like Louisville, this post office was unfortunately short-lived, closing in 1873. 

Julius Coller described Merriam Junction in his book The Shakopee Story, published in 1960. He said, “It was quite the little settlement. The businesses were largely patronized by traveling people and people working for the railroad.” He also described the outsized impact that Merriam Junction had on the region: “Shakopee became a way station with a stub train consisting of an engine, a baggage car, and coach running from St Paul to Merriam and return. Travelers had to change trains at Merriam to make the 12 mile trip from Shakopee to Jordan” 

At the community’s height, an average of 20 trains went through Merriam Junction each day. With such a high rate of mobility in the population, Merriam developed a local reputation for being home to transitory communities. The area was home to a group of Eastern European immigrants, called gypsies at the time. Supposedly they camped near the waystation because the water tower and coal bins provided easy access to fuel and fresh water. Local residents at the time also complained that they would beg, or come to local houses in an attempt to buy food. Unfortunately, this small group of families took on a negative, almost legendary status in households at the time. Children would be warned that they would be taken by the “gypsies” if they were naughty, and unsubstantiated tales of stolen livestock abounded. 

Merriam Junction was also chosen as a hideout for the nationally notorious James Brothers gang. After their famous robbery at the Northfield Bank, the gang hid out in a cave near Merriam, supposedly obscuring their tracks by putting their horses’ shoes on backward. Some members of the gang, the younger brothers of Jesse James, were captured after this incident.

Though the train spelled disaster for Louisville, the rise of the automobile led to the end of Merriam Junction. Even though trains were still being used for shipping and distance travel, by the 1920s, shorter-distance trips for business and pleasure were being taken by automobile instead of rail. Passengers no longer needed the services of a community like Merriam Junction, and the hotels and stores, reliant on travelers, lost their customers. By the end of the 1920s, Merriam Junction, like Louisville before it, was mostly deserted. 

Further Reading

• Coller, J. (1976). The Shakopee Story. North Star Pictures, Inc. Available to look at in the SCHS research library.

• Stanwood, M. (2017, October 19). “A Chance for Beginners”: Ghost Towns of the Southwest Metro. Swnewsmedia. https://www.swnewsmedia.com/eden_prairie_news/news/local/a-chance-for-beginners-ghost-towns-of-the-southwest-metro/article_d9645265-06d1-5fd5-9b10-447998297792.html

“Step Right Up”: Leo Albrecht's Five Decades With the Circus

By Heather Hoagland, SCHS Director, with Charles Pederson

Have you ever dreamed of running off and joining the circus? Leo Albrecht did.

An expert in acrobatics, slack wire walking, juggling, balancing, circus wagon carving, artistry, and animal training, Leo spent over half his life traveling the United States as a circus owner and performer. He performed in large cities and small towns, for roaring crowds and wide-eyed children, sometimes returning home after long absences only to visit family.

An Early Start, and a Family Affair

Born in 1890 in Belle Plaine, young Leo fell in love with the circus at age 8 after seeing a Gollmar Bros. Circus come through his hometown. He spent the rest of his long life devoted to show business. As one Iowa newspaper put it, he was “a trouper’s trouper [who] had sawdust in his veins.” Leo staged his first circus in 1901, at the age of 10.

Along with his brothers Chris and Walter, a cousin, Lawrence, and a very understanding goat, Leo held an Albrecht Circus in a vacant lot in Belle Plaine. The old schoolhouse is visible in the background. (Belle Plaine Herald, August 29, 1974)

Leo balances a wagon wheel on his chin while his son Leo Jr. gives a command to one of the family’s performing dogs. The wagon wheel weighed as much as 100 pounds. (Source and date unknown)

By around 1915, Leo’s name was appearing as a slack wire performer and acrobat. Slack wire involves a narrow wire being loosely anchored at each end (to posts, trees, ceiling, or whatever is strong enough to hold the performer). The performer moves through the air, back and forth along the flexible wire. To ease the pain and stress on one’s feet from walking on the wire, soft shoes are usually worn.

Leo started his own circus and was touring by the late 1920s. In April 1928, Leo married Angela Quast of Winsted, MN. Angela joined her new husband on the road. The couple began to have children, and as Leo’s family grew, everyone got in on the act—literally.

• Angela filled in as costume designer, purchasing agent, and treasurer. She even worked the dogs, ponies, and diving goat, dubbed Madam Lillian.

• The couple’s three sons, Leo Jr. (Sonny), David, and Gary, all became performers and manual laborers called roustabouts. In fact, according to his obituary, Sonny once “built an entire stage using only a hammer, a drill, and a handsaw.”

• Finally two daughters-in-law—Arlene (David’s wife), an acrobat, rolling globe, and juggler, and Gloria (Sonny’s wife), an accomplished singer and aerialist —joined the family and the circus. Gloria had a double circus pedigree: Her grandfather, Jay Gould, like Leo, had also been the proprietor of a traveling circus. He made famous the John Wilkes Booth mummy and gave Laurence Welk his first job in show business. Jay was also the only showman who presented circus parades.

A Dog and Pony Show

Leo’s specialty was animal training. The Albright Circus (as the troupe became known in the 1940s) was a literal dog and pony show. Over the course of his career, Leo trained 30 ponies and more than 300 dogs.

A 1953 article in the Daily Republic of Mitchell, South Dakota, recounts the story of Cupid, a 4-year-old wire-haired terrier that jumped from a 60-foot ladder: 

Cupid is so eager to perform her act that after the tower-ladder apparatus is set up Albright has to place a board at the entrance of the ladder to prevent her from climbing and making her leap ahead of schedule. Thursday night at the circus, as 2,000 people watched, she eagerly climbed the ladder, tail wagging, and made her leap as if she enjoyed every second of it. 

Albright’s method of training his dogs (he owns 15 [spitzes], two wire-haired terriers and three albino huskies) is unique. The secret of his success, he believes, is patience and kindness. 

One of Leo’s spitz dogs balances upside down on Leo’s hand. (Mitchell Daily Republic, July 10, 1953)

The Lean Times and the Fat

You might think the circus life is glamorous. Far from it. The circus and its members were often gone for months at a time. The Belle Plaine Herald described one visit home for the Albrecht family. They returned home for Christmas in 1939: “With the exception of occasional brief drop-ins, it is six years since Leo has been back for any appreciable time. . . . He is taking a vacation this winter for the first time in many years.”

The circus acquired at least one colorful wagon, pulled by ponies that also performed in the show. This gilded royal coach was built by Leo Albrecht over a 5-year period encompassing over 2000 hours of work. It is patterned after the carriage used in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of England in 1953. The coach was used in the Shrine circus in 1960 and was also featured in Popular Mechanic Magazine that same year. (Scott County Historical Society Collections, date unknown)

Traveling wasn’t necessarily the worst part of circus life. When Leo took his show on the road in 1929, he couldn’t have chosen a worse time. That year saw the start of the Great Depression. Keeping the caravan of wagons, tents, trucks, costumes, and other gear in good order was a struggle. “In those times the adage was ‘A little lean, a little fat,’ but Leo can tell you it was mostly lean,” said an Iowa newspaper writer.

And no matter their circus destination, the local people were often unable to pay the entrance fee. Sometimes they made in-kind payment with bartered food or other goods. One news account asserted that the circus even folded during the Depression and was later reconstituted as “Albright’s Attractions,” with family members playing key roles in performing and managing the concern.

Despite the hardships, the family was self-sufficient. They turned their hand to all manner of work to make ends meet. They even painted local buildings and did wallpapering when no circus engagements were to be found. Leo also did mural painting at need. And yet, the circus often thrived through the decades. Their show received glowing reviews:

• Praise for “Jimmie, the $10,000 pony and Diamond, who knows all the colors of the rainbow” (Sioux County [IA] Index, June 1938).

• “Excellent show. . . . I can heartily recommend the Albrecht Circus” (Q. A. Smart, School Superintendent, Bowdle South Dakota, October 21, 1938).

• In Carroll, Iowa, the “indoor circus proved a big attraction” (Daily Herald, February 1938).

• “Plenty of dog and pony acts” (Postville [IA] Herald, August 1947).

• “Dogs, ponies, monkeys, clowns, acrobats, jugglers, magic wire, many more star acts. Morally clean in every respect” (La Porte City, IA, Progress-Review, May 1963).

Not every review was quite as enthusiastic: “The dog and pony show [is] okay. . . . At least he is no whiskey head” (A. A. Spurlock, Justice of the Peace, Gould, Arkansas, 1935).

No matter the reviews—good or bad—the Albrecht circus continued to make its rounds.

David Albrecht spray-paints over their circus trailer, while Leo looks on. (Belle Plaine Herald, August 8, 1963)

Leaving the Circus Behind

After five decades in the circus business, Leo and Angela finally settled down for good in Belle Plaine in 1968. Later that year, Leo told the Minneapolis Star—in an article titled “Owner, 73, Closes Family Circus; Succumbs to TV, Not Age”—that the shutdown was due to poor attendance and the advance of technology. “Today people can see the world’s greatest circus acts on television for nothing. . . . This has hurt the little circus that plays small towns.”

In an interview for his hometown paper, the Belle Plaine Herald, however, Leo reflected on his career.

“If I had it to do over again, I would probably do the same thing. . . . I really love the circus business. We had a number of rough years but they help you appreciate the good years.”

Leo remained an active member of the community until he died in 1989 at the age of 98. He is buried at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Belle Plaine.

Leo Albrecht retired to Belle Plaine in 1968 and spent the last part of his life as an active member of the community, including being elected Outstanding Senior Man in 1978 (Belle Plaine Herald, August 10, 1978).

(Image from the SCHS Library, source and date unknown)

Like this Article? Read more about Leo Albrecht and his circus at these sources:

• Albrecht, Dale. (2019). Tales of a small town circus legend. Self-published. Also available to view at the SCHS research library, open M-F 9-4pm.

• Albrecht, Mike. (2020, April 8). Hometown author discovers his family may be part owner of infamous Lincoln Assassin’s mummy. Belle Plaine Herald.

• Belle Plaine Herald. (2019, September 18). Leo “Sonny” Albrecht: The life of local historian, author and entertainer.

• Circus Historical Society. (n.d.). Circuses—Brief bits. [Quotes from newspapers, reviews]. (scroll down to Albrecht Bros. Circus)

• Circus Historical Society. (n.d.). Stevens Bros. circus—1946 [Photos].

• Find a Grave. (n.d.) Leo Mathias Albrecht.

• Kolden Funeral Services. (2019). Leo “Sonny” Albrecht.

• McLeod County Historical Society and Museum. (n.d.). Albrecht, Leo Joseph “Sonny” [Photos].

• Ruud, Dan. (2015, July 29). Blakely antique collector selling a lifetime of treasures. Belle Plaine Herald, 31, 1, 6.

The History of Louisville Township Part 2: Louisville

Building a Town

Louisville was originally platted by French fur trader Louis LaCroix who established a trading post on the bank of the river, likely in 1850. In 1853, H. H. Spencer arrived from Louisville, Kentucky with his family. He envisioned a community in the northwest corner of the township thriving on steamboat travel and trade along the Minnesota River. Spencer soon began buying up lots. He built a home for his family, a grocery store, and a post office where he established himself as postmaster - and also offered free lots to other tradespeople who were willing to set up shop in the new community. Spencer then began working to recoup his investment, and make the town a financial success. Soon, he was advertising the prospects of  Louisville in newspapers around the region. 

This lengthy paragraph about Louisville was placed in the Minnesota Democratic Weekly on May 23, 1855: 

“Located on the South Bank of the Minnesota River at the nearest point below the Little Rapids that is above high water, it is about 50 miles above St. Paul, by the river and 34 by land, and 10 or 12 miles by the river and 6 miles by land above Shakopee. Louisville is on a high rolling Prairie, with a number of springs of the best water and an abundance of good limestone in the vicinity. Louisville has a first rate landing for steamboats and is the landing place for that rich expansive country bordering and on the prairie and the big woods, and when the water is low for steamboats to cross the rapids, it is the place for the travellers to and from the Upper Minnesota country to leave the steamboat and take one when bound for st paul, being the principal traveled road from St Paul to St Peter, Fort Ridgley etc. Travellers to the upper country will find teams at Louisville and vicinity to convey them up to this country. Strangers looking for claims can get information of conveyances to a very rich country back unclaimed and well timbered and water interrupted with meadows and beautiful lakes abounding with fish. Louisville has a store and hotel in operation, and a blacksmith shop and several dwelling buildings. Persons looking for liquidations are also invited to visit this place where H. H. Spencer, one of the proprietors, will be found ready and willing to sell property at fair prices. Great induments will be offered to mechanics, merchants etc to settle her this season. The place is laid off on a liberal plan. Lots 50 by 150 foot. Streets and alleys wide, and liberal donations have been made by the proprietors in the way of public grounds for churches and school purposes. ”

— Minnesota Democratic Weekly on May 23, 1855

Another example is this advertisement, published in the Daily Minnesotan Newspaper, November 1st, 1854: 

“A new town is to be laid out on the Minnesota River, some 15 miles above Shakopee. A saw mill, warehouse, and a large hotel are to be erected this fall and early in the return of spring. Enterprising gentlemen from New York and Wisconsin have recently made purchases at the place, and will be on with their families in spring. A friend of ours in the section says we in St Paul can have no real conception of the rapidity with which this whole upper country is being filled up with immigrants. He estimated that no less than six thousand settlers have gone in above Shakopee since the opening of navigation last spring. This village is situated on the south side of the Minnesota at the foot of the little rapids. The town is going ahead- keeping pace with other thriving villages of the valley.  Mr. H. H. Spencer is one of the proprietors and he has set up business on the spot. He took up by the Black Hawk yesterday several families to settle there, and lumber to build them houses. The land in the vicinity is excellent, and the country is rapidly filling up.”

— Daily Minnesotan Newspaper, November 1st, 1854

As a result of this campaign, around 30 families moved to the settlement.

A section of the obituary for J.W. Sencerbox, printed in the Scott County Argus, January 16, 1896

Building up Business

In 1856, Spencer built a gristmill in Louisville. Later that year, two steam mills were constructed, one by Ezra Gibbs, and one by J. W. Sencerbox. Both mills were operated by steam, as the Minnesota River was too placid at the townsite to provide enough power to operate a mill. Neither mill was destined for a long life, however. Gibbs’ business was unprofitable from the onset, and closed within the year. Sencerbox’s mill only lasted four years, closing its doors in 1865. 

In 1857, Spencer put down the funds to have a schoolhouse built in the town. A teacher, Hattie Kingsly, was brought on board. However, a 1937 article in the Jordan Independent describes the grim future of the schoolhouse thus: “An interest in education did not take in Louisville and from 1859 to 1863 the schoolhouse stood idle. Summer school was conducted in the next two years, and in winter of 1865-1866 Miss Belle Spencer held classes, but they were the last for Louisville”

Louisville never established a church, often a bedrock of early European American settlements in the area. Services were only held intermittently by circuit riders, usually in the home of H. H. Spencer. 

The Decline of Louisville

In this period of history, rail could make or break a fledgling town. Trains brought goods and supplies, as well as convenient shipping lanes for local farmers and merchants. They also brought new people to settle and expand local communities.

Soon after Louisville was constructed, shipping and travel began to move from steamboats to the more convenient rail lines. Louisville’s death was foretold when the St Paul and Sioux City railroad was mapped out. It bypassed Louisville entirely, traveling from Shakopee to Jordan, and crossing with the Minneapolis and St Louis railroad line at a point called Merriam Junction.  Farmers in the area began to take their goods and business elsewhere. 

In spite of his hearty publicity campaign, Spencer’s interest in the town soon began to wane. He closed his original grocery store in 1859. By the end of the 1860s, the town was nearly deserted. 

Railroads in Louisville Township. Photo from the Shakopee Valley News, September 16, 1987.

The History of Louisville Township Part 1: Louisville Then and Now

Map showing Louisville Township, including Louisville Swamp.

Beginnings of Louisville Township

Louisville Township is located in the northwestern corner of Scott County, boarded by the twists and turns of the Minnesota River. The natural landscape is varied, including prairies, forest, marsh and swampland, an oak savanna. Like most parts of Scott County, the Louisville Township area was originally settled by the Dakota, thousands of years before European Americans came to the area. The area was home to the Eastern Wahpeton band of the Dakota. 

In 1930, a priest named Father Klien wrote a lengthy and detailed history of his church in Marystown in Louisville Township and the surrounding area. In his discussion of early census attempts, he wrote “The reported census did not measure up to the actual number of people”, and that “The territory was recognized as the legitimate domain of the Dakota”.

He goes on to describe the rapid change brought to Louisville Township by the 1851 Treaty of Traverse De Sioux. Like in other parts of Scott County, “settlers began to pour in from the Midwest, East, Germany, Ireland...drawn here by the chance to get good farms with what little money they possessed”

The history of Louisville Township is intertwined with the history of transportation in the region. Along with connections to Shakopee and Jordan due to proximity, the township was home to three European American towns. Two of these, Louisville and and Merriam Junction, grew and died along with transportation changes. 

Louisville was planned as a port city along the Minnesota River, taking advantage of steam travel. Merriam Junction was placed at the crossing of two major railroads, hoping to benefit from rail travelers. A third community, Marystown, sprung up around one of the oldest catholic churches in the region. 

Newspaper article showing the H.H. Spencer home which was the only structure still standing. “Spencer used it as living quarters, store and inn.” The man in the photo is August Holm who was one of the last Scott County residents who could remember going to Louisville. Jordan Independent July 8, 1937

Louisville Township Today

One of the most well-known yearly events in Louisville Township is the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. 

The first Renaissance Festival was held in Laurel Canyon, California in 1963. It was started by a local teacher who wanted to create an experience to share history with adults, modeled after the medieval fairs she would put on with her students each year. As the years progressed, the fair attracted members of the 1960s counterculture movement, and became less about historical authenticity and more about theater and community. 

As the Renaissance Festival expanded, people in other states began to take interest. Minnesota was home to the first festival outside of California, which took place in September of 1971 on a 22-acre field in Jonathan, Minnesota. It billed itself as “A Celebration of Nature, Art and Life,” and brought in over 25,000 people. 

The Renaissance Festival moved to its current location in Louisville Township in 1973. Today, it is the largest Renaissance Festival in the United States, attracting over 300,000 visitors yearly. It has launched the acts of nationally known performers, including Penn and Teller and the Flying Karamazov brothers. Singer Jason Mraz also had his first job at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, selling pickles.

Another Louisville Township attraction is Louisville Swamp. Louisville Swamp is currently part of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, located between the Minnesota River and Highway 169. It was purchased by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1979 from Northern States Power Company. 

Newspaper article quoting Ranger McDonald on the attraction of the wildlife refuge at Louisville Swamp. Savage Pacer, October 31, 1998.

The title of “Swamp” is actually a misnomer, as the land includes prairies, forest, marshland, and oak savanna. The oak savanna is especially important. There were once an estimated 300 million acres of oak savannah in the United States. As of 1998, only 6500 acres remained. The area is important for local wildlife. It is a prime spot for birders, with sightings of hawks, kestrels and woodpeckers. Deer, raccoon, coyotes and walleye live in the park, and in the fall it is a resting place for migrating monarch butterflies. There has been an active effort to preserve native plants and reduce invasive species in Louisville Swamp, making it a home for flowers including the lady slipper and the nut rush. 

The area that is now Louisville Swamp includes parts of the ghost town of Louisville, and you can still see the foundations of several homesteads in the swamp. Hiking paths are open year round - visit the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge for details. 

Alphonse Kubat, A Priest With a Past

By Charles Pederson

Father Alphonse Kubat, in retirement in St. Paul, MN. Photo provided by Fr. Michael Miller.

The path to priesthood is often preordained: go to school, enter seminary, become ordained, start serving as an ordinary priest. But even an ordinary priest may harbor hidden depths. Take Alphonse Kubat, priest of the Catholic Church and humble servant at churches in Scott County and surrounding areas. During his long life, Father Kubat was pressed into manual labor by the Nazi regime, struggled for religious freedom in Communist Czechoslovakia and finally found a new home in the United States, at Saint Wenceslaus Catholic Church in New Prague, Minnesota. Fellow priest Michael Miller said of his mentor, Fr. Kubat, “You’d never know he’d been through such terrible things in his life.” [1]

Growing Up Between the Wars

Born in August 1916 to Frank and Anna Kubat, Alphonse came of age during the period between world wars. He grew up in Frydlant, a town in northeast Czechoslovakia. The area had long been part of the double monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The monarchy controlled vast acreage throughout Europe. To maintain territorial integrity, the crown had kept its ethnic minorities under strict control. However, the assassination of the Austrian-Hungarian crown prince by an ethnic minority Serb lit the flame of world war. It also heralded the end of Austria-Hungary. And with the empire’s collapse after World War I, many new countries gained the freedom to emerge. Czechoslovakia, a new democracy, was one of these new countries.

One wonders what led Alphonse to the priesthood. Perhaps he was affected by people’s stories of the war or the presence of hundreds of thousands of Czech war wounded. In the devastation of World War I, as many as 150,000 Czechs had fought and died for the Austrian-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef. [2] This was about 10% of the entire Czech military contingent. Perhaps Alphonse was influenced by the example of his uncle Alphonse Kotouc, an ordained priest who served in Minnesota. Whatever the reason, young Alphonse determined to become a priest himself and enrolled in the regional seminary in the town of Hradec Kralove.

The Insanity of World War II

In Czechoslovakia, the insanity of the next war began in 1938. That year the German Nazi military annexed the Sudetenland. This border region of Czechoslovakia contained a majority of ethnic Germans. Adolf Hitler argued they were endangered and needed protection. Negotiating the Munich Pact with Britain, France, and Italy, Germany was allowed to occupy the Sudetenland unopposed. [3]

Only months later, in March 1939, Nazi armies invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia to “restore order”[4] and make it part of so-called greater Germany. Czechoslovakia as a separate country ceased to exist.

Catholics became a special target of the Nazis. Many Catholic institutions were shuttered. Between 350 and 500 priests were arrested, of whom numerous were executed or died in prison or concentration camps.

New anti-Catholic laws forced Alphonse to end his theological studies. The Nazis instead pressed him into manual labor. When injured in a woodworking accident, he was released from the work gang. Despite Nazi oppression, Alphonse completed his religious training. He was ordained in June 1942, at age 25. The newly minted Father Kubat was installed as assistant pastor in a town an hour southeast of Prague. The war ended in two years later.

Postwar Religious Oppression

The vagaries of war left Czechoslovakia in the Soviet zone of influence. By the late 1940s, Soviet-supported communists controlled the Czech government. Official relations with the Vatican broke off in 1950, and the persecution of Catholics that had already begun accelerated.

Fr. Kubat was one of the many priests who suffered directly under the communist regime. Along with many other religious persons—both male and female—Fr. Kubat in 1953 received a prison sentence. He was housed  for two years in a “concentration monastery” in Valdice, Czechoslovakia. [5] Ironically the prison was in a former monastery that had been established in 1627. In 1857, the grounds had been converted into a prison for convicts with terms of 10 years to life. [6]

Catholic practice was officially allowed only by “licensed” priests, [7] who were considered state employees. Any other practice of the religion had to be conducted secretly. During the time of Fr. Kubat’s incarceration, communion (or the Eucharist) was secretly offered only five times because of the difficulty of obtaining the elements. Raisins picked from bread were soaked in water to create a “wine,” and a spoon was used as the “chalice.” [8] Bread serving as a communion wafer might be wrapped in cigarette paper for concealment. If a fellow prisoner informed on the priests, or if guards discovered that religious rites were being performed, their belongings might be taken away. Fr. Kubat himself was punished once with six weeks of solitary confinement. Fortunately, not all guards were equally zealous in their duties. Through lingering loyalty to the church or perhaps through bribery or sheer laziness, they might look the other way. [9]

Fr. Kubat was freed from prison in 1955. Because the government considered him unreliable at best—and certainly not a good communist—he still could not publicly perform his priestly duties. Instead, he was assigned to a construction crew and worked in a steel factory for nearly 15 years. [10] Any religious activities had to remain secret. As he already knew, priests performing their duties risked potentially severe punishment.

Prague Spring and What Followed

Early 1968 was a time of social ferment in Europe. In Czechoslovakia, widespread public demonstrations led to the fall of a hardline communist government. This left room for the reformer-socialist Alexander Dubcek. He took leadership of the government in April. Dubcek advocated for “socialism with a human face”: an opening of the tightly controlled economy and expansion of freedom of speech. Initially, Czechs feared that the Soviet Union would react angrily to a reform government. The worst did not happen, and  the Soviets remained on the sidelines. The period was optimistically known as Prague Spring.

Finally, the Dubcek government crossed a line. It expressed interest in possibly leaving the Soviet-controlled military alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. This was unacceptable to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. In August, Brezhnev ordered 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia. Dubcek was arrested, and his brief experiment in a less repressive socialism ended. [11]

Leaving an Old Home, Finding a New One

Seeing a lack of world reaction to the Soviet crackdown in his homeland, Fr. Kubat believed that things would not improve for the Czech religious community. In the chaos of the end of Prague Spring, he, along with several hundred thousand others, left Czechoslovakia. Fr. Kubat landed in neutral Vienna, Austria.

Fr. Kubat’s new religious home was a beautiful neoclassical church, Saint Nicholas. The building was located in Inzersdorf, on the southwest edge of Vienna. The bright white exterior of the compact building was beautiful. The celestial architecture echoed the inscription above the church’s entry: “Domus Dei Porta Coeli” (“God’s House, Gate of Heaven”). [12] Fr. Kubat must have felt inspired. Inspiration alone, however, was not enough to bind him to Europe.

About a year later, Fr. Kubat applied to emigrate from Austria into the United States. His application was approved, and Fr. Kubat arrived in New York City in mid-1969. After serving briefly at a church in North Dakota and for 15 years in Veseli, Minnesota, he was sent to the nearby Saint Wenceslaus parish in New Prague, Minnesota.

Aerial view of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, New Prague, circa 1935. Image in the SCHS Collection.

Czechs had settled parts of LeSueur, Scott, and Rice Counties, in southern Minnesota, in the 1850s. New Prague, the oldest Czech colony in Minnesota (founded 1856), [13] was the approximate center of the area. [14] Fr. Kubat’s uncle Alphonse Kotouc had overseen the erection of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Veseli. [15] That family connection, along with the area’s strong Czech background, must have helped Fr. Kubat settle in to his position.

The final step in Fr. Kubat’s Europe-to-Minnesota odyssey occurred in July 1974. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, proudly displaying the certificate on his wall.

A Humble Servant’s Life

Having served in several other parishes, Fr. Kubat retired to Saint Paul in 1991 and died of cancer in January 2006. It had been a long journey from the upheaval and destruction of the first half of his life. But he was so happy to be able to be a priest.

Fr. Kubat showed real heroism and unshakable optimism in overcoming so many barriers to practice his faith. Fr. Michael Miller, however, quoted his friend’s modesty: “‘Do not say that I was a saint or a great priest.’ . . . His greatest joy was finally being able to act as a priest freely and without fear. . . . Having been deprived of exercising his priesthood for most of his life gave him an appreciation of it from which we can all learn.  Perhaps that is why he was so joyful.” [16] Fr. Kubat is buried at Saint Scholastica Cemetery in Heidelberg, Minnesota.

Fr. Kubat celebrates Mass. Photo provided by Fr. Michael Miller.

---

End Notes

[1] Scott, S. (2006, January 4). Priest Endured Europe’s Worst: Czech Nazi, Communist Imprisonments Preceded His Flight to Freedom in America. St. Paul Pioneer Press, n.p., para. 2.

[2] Many Czech WWI Graves Neglected, Says Member of History Buffs’ Group. (2014, June 21). Radio Prague International. https://english.radio.cz/many-czech-wwi-graves-neglected-says-member-history-buffs-group-8292384

[3] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.) Hitler’s Foreign Policy, “Key Events,: para. 6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z92hw6f/revision/4

[4] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). Hitler’s Foreign Policy, “The Final Destruction of Czechoslovakia—1939,” para. 3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z92hw6f/revision/4

[5] Fiala, M. (Ed.). (n.d.). Czech Republic, the Catholic Church in the, “The Church Since 1945,” para. 7. Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/czech-republic-catholic-church.

[6] Correctional Facility Valdice (Kartouzy). (2009). Wikimapia. http://wikimapia.org/11412690/Correctional-facility-Valdice-Kartouzy

[7] Fiala, M. (Ed.). (n.d.). Czech Republic, the Catholic Church in the, “The Church Since 1945,” para. 7. Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/czech-republic-catholic-church.

[8] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf

[9] Valdice Prison. (n.d.). A Communion Wafer Was a Piece of a Bun Wrapped in Cigarette Paper (Hostie, to byl kousek housky v cigaretovém papírku), para. 1. https://www.mistapametinaroda.cz/?lc=en&id=413

[10] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf.

[11] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.) The Cold War, 1961-1972, “Events of the Prague Spring,” paras. 1-3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zsfwhv4/revision/5 

[12] Pfarre St. Nikolaus. (n.d.) Kirchengebaeude, para. 1. https://www.pfarresanktnikolaus.at/wp/?page_id=26

[13] Landsberger, J. D. (n.d.). Gateway to a New World: Building Czech and Slovak Communities in the West End, p. 19. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjmg975ibjxAhUBVc0KHRVFBH4QFjAQegQICxAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.josfland.com%2Fgardens%2Fgateway%2520small.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2KgbGOo32e53XOd8iRKWAL

[14] U.S. Department of the Interior. (1997, October). Church of the Most Holy Trinity (Catholic) [National Register of Historic Places Application Form]. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiK14m-krjxAhXVU80KHf5GB5QQFjACegQIBBAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FGetAsset%2F9aac0eb3-afc6-4804-a109-1ae4c9e578f7&usg=AOvVaw1YVGi_tbOdFndEZD9JIiLq

[15] Scott, S. (2006, January 4). Priest Endured Europe’s Worst: Czech Nazi, Communist Imprisonments Preceded His Flight to Freedom in America. St. Paul Pioneer Press, n.p., para. 2.

[16] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf