Unlike
its neighbors, Munjor and Schoenchen, Antonino did not begin as one of
Ellis
County’s original
Volga-German settlements of the 1870’s. The town’s history started three
decades later, arising out of travel inconveniences and lack of land to
farm in the Munjor area. In October 1904, thirty families met to discuss
the establishment of a new village and church in southwest
Ellis
County, an area known as
Lookout
Township. Following
approval by the bishop for a new parish, settlers agreed on a site atop a
scenic hill nine miles southwest of Hays, eight and a half miles west of
Munjor and ten miles from Schoenchen. Construction of the church took
first priority. Unlike the earlier settlements which experienced
considerable difficulty in locating supplies, the Antonino founders
received the gift of a frame building. A decade earlier, the “Gold Mill”
hotel and been constructed to serve the boom town of
Chetolah, following the discovery of gold
on the
Smoky Hill River. The
Ellis
County gold rush
evaporated quickly and Chetolah became a ghost town in 1894. Using lumber
from the defunct gold mine, Antonino residents donated most of the labor.
Built at a cost of about $3,000 over a period of less than four months,
the original wood frame church measured 80 by 30 feet and was 18 feet
high. Fr. Maurus Schebler, Antonino’s first priest, offered the first Mass
on March 25, 1905; Bishop John Cunningham dedicated the new Parish, Our
Lady Help of Christians, in October 1905.
Overcrowding in the 1905 church became the main reason for the
construction of a new church in 1951. Under the guidance of Fr. Flavian
Meis, the parish built a much larger church, using many of the materials
from the original church. A Gothic-in style building with an attached
five-room rectory, full basement, indoor restrooms, electrical wiring and
kitchen facilities was constructed. A buff color exterior nicely
complemented the area’s generous use of stone for buildings and fence
posts. Many local parishioners donated their labor and most of the cost of
materials came from private donations. At a cost of slightly over $70,000,
the new church facility was dedicated on Ma7 26, 1952 by Bishop Frank
Thill. The community of Antonino celebrated its 100 year centennial in
2005. Our Lady Help of Christian’s parish continues to be the center of
the community. A Fall Feast is held each year on the first Sunday of
November when “all roads lead to Antonino.” Mass is celebrated every
Saturday at 4 PM.
