A fieldstone church built by Bavarian immigrants in rural Wisconsin, still standing amid its cemetery.
At a glance
St. Augustine is one of four surviving fieldstone churches in Washington County. The walls are mortared fieldstone, a construction method common among early structures in southeastern Wisconsin. The site includes the church and its cemetery, located three miles south of the junction of County Highway Y and State Route 33.
History
In 1856, a community of Catholic immigrants from the Kingdom of Bavaria built this church. For its first twenty-four years, itinerant missionary priests served the congregation. After 1870, the same priest who led Holy Trinity Church in nearby Newburg also served St. Augustine.
In the 19th century, the church basement held a school. Children from the area learned to read and write in German there while receiving religious education. Sisters of St. Agnes, an order founded in the Village of Barton, Wisconsin, taught the students.
Sermons and hymns remained in German into the 1940s. Regular services ended in 1985, when parishioners joined Holy Trinity in Newburg. The building was then kept for holiday services, weddings, and funerals. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
What you see
The church is built of mortared fieldstone, a material that ties it firmly to the landscape of southeastern Wisconsin. Originally the interior walls were whitewashed.
In 1925, the congregation commissioned Milwaukee artist Hans Schmeidl to paint a depiction of St. Augustine behind the altar. He flanked the central figure with bordered medallion paintings of Mary and Jesus.
Cultural significance
It is one of only four fieldstone churches left in Washington County. It preserves the building traditions of the Bavarian Catholic immigrants who settled this part of Wisconsin in the mid-19th century. The German-language school in its basement shaped the community for decades. The 1925 paintings by Hans Schmeidl add a layer of 20th-century artistic intent to the earlier frontier structure.
Key facts
- Country: United States
- City: Trenton, Wisconsin
- Coordinates: 43.3842, -88.0411
- National Register of Historic Places: 1990
Practical information & getting there
The church is at County Highway Y, three miles south of the junction of County Highway Y and State Route 33 in the Town of Trenton. It no longer hosts regular services. The building is used for holiday services, weddings, and funerals. The cemetery is part of the site.
Sources & resources
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →📷 Become a Cultural Heritage Online photographer
Share your photos of places: they stay published under your name as the author. The more they're seen, the more you get noticed — and soon a contest will reward the most appreciated photos.
Log in or sign up free to add a photoIs this page about you?
This page is read by travellers and heritage enthusiasts who find it on Google. Tell us how you are connected to this place and we will take it from there.