"I find a heaven in the midst of saucepans and brooms."
St. Stanislaus Kostka
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A Quick Look At St. Stanislaus
Cimarron was the first mission station in what later became Gray County. Nevertherless, the parish at Ingalls had its beginnings at Belfast, three miles to the west.
Father Felix Swermbergh served Cimarron from his pastorate at Emporia in 1874. Later, this mission station was served by priests stationed at Windthorst, Dodge City and Meade.
Nine miles to the west of Cimarron was a station along the Santa Fe Railroad known as Belfast. Priests serving this mission station celebrated Mass for a congregation of ten families in the home of Laurence and Bridget Bryrne. When the family moved to Ingalls in 1905, their home continued to serve as the Mass site.
Plans for a church may have been initiated after Bishop John J. Hennessy visited Ingalls with the St. Anthony Chapel Car in 1907. The Bishop selected a suitable building site and left the rest to the hands of God and Father Michael Mennis, the pastor at Dodge City.
Father Mennis earned the reputation as a builder. During his pastorate at Dodge City mission churches were erected at Syracuse, Lakin, Ingalls, Meade, Wright and Fowler. At Ingalls, a 30 by 60 foot frame church was constructed with the intial assistance of the Catholic Extension Society. This humble structure had no plaster; its walls were all tongue and groove construction. The Gothic-style windows were fitted with amber colored glass.
Bishop Hennessy dedicated the church October 6, 1910. The church was placed under the patronage of St. Stanislaus Kostka. Three Polish families in the congregation, each having a son named for this saint, chose the name for the church. The spiritual needs of the Ingalls congregation were attended by the priests in Dodge City until 1927. On August 16, 1927, the Society of the Most Precious Blood, at the request of Bishop August J. Schwerner, took charge of St. Mary's Parish in Garden City and the missions of Ingalls, Latin and Syracuse.
Precious Blood Father Anthony Meyer cared for the missions. He discovered the church at Ingalls overcrowded and led the congregation in the building of a new church.
Brinkman and Hagan Architects in Emporia were hired to design the church. In 1929, this same firm designed the rectory at Sacred Heart, Dodge City, to complement the Spanish Mission architecture there. Bishop Schwertner obviously liked this style of architecture, because the theme was continued at Ingalls. Joseph Sebacher of Garden City was the contractor.
The parishioners offered their labors to hold down the cost of the project. Men with either tractors or horses with slips dug the basement for the church. When the bricks arrived by rail, the parishionners hauled them to the construction site.
On July 19, 1931, Bishop Schwertner blessed the cornerstone. Less than six months later, on December 1, he returned to dedicate the church.
St. Stanlislaus was a mission of St. Mary, Garden City, until 1940, when care for the congregation was transferred to the chaplain at St. Anthony Hospital in Dodge City. Four years later, care for the congregation was transferred to the chaplain at St. Caherine Hospital in Garden City. The chaplains at St.Catherine served the congregation until 1958.
A seemingly innocent request for a resident pastor led to a moutain of questions. Where will the priest live? Can we locate the rectory in Cimarron? Is Ingalls the right location for the church? Can we move the church to Cimarron? On April 17, 1957, Bishop John B. Franz answered all the question when he decided that the rectory would be constructed in Ingalls. Father John Spatt was the first resident pastor in 1985.
In 1962, the parish undertook a project to enlarge and improve the sanctuary. A new altar was designed and constructed by Santa Fe Studio of Church Art. A bronze "Pax" emblem of modernistic design adorns the front of the alter. On either side of this emblem are two niches that contain small statues of the four evangelists. The statues were hand-carved in Italy and are finished in antique gold. New color was added in the nave of the church when stained glass windows, imported from Cologne, Germany, were installed. These windows depict the 15 mysteries of the rosary in symbol. They were designed by German craftsmen for Ecclesiastical Art of Dallas Texas.
A new church entrance with an adjacent daily Mass Chapel was constructed in 1975, after the parish received a bequest from the estate of Rudy and Vera Blanton. The chapel follows the styling of the main church. The Spanish-Styled stonework at the entrance of the church was carefully removed and reconstructed after the church was extended 14 feet.
Religious vocations from the parish include four Sisters and a Brother. St. Stanislaus Parish hosted the National Catholic Rural Life Conference on November 8, 1971. Msgr. John George Weber, co-director of the NCRLCFrom Des Moines, was the featured speaker. His address was entitled "Social Justice for Rural America."
(Thimothy F. Wenzl, "A Legacy of Faith The History of the Diocese of Dodge City" 2001