In class today Margaret Atkinson of Apt. 1115 [Editors' note: in Golden West Manor] told the story of Victoria, Kansas. Founded by Man from England as home for the "Black Sheep" sons of wealthy English families. Later Germans who fled to Russia to escape Army conscription came when a new Czar would have conscripted them into Russian Army. They came to Victoria as Servants to English families. They (Volga Germans) brought Rust Resistant Wheat Seed. Worked and saved and bought out English. Cathedral of Plains. Stone fence posts.
[Editors' note: Nellie didn't finish this section. Elsie found the following in the AAA Tour Book for Victoria, Kansas.
Victoria began as two separate settlements in the 1870's. North of the present town site, Volga-German immigrants founded Herzog, while just south of it was the English colony of Victoria. Local history recounts that the young Englishmen, who had brought fine cattle, sheep, and horses with them, were more interested in saloons and dance halls than in raising livestock.
Within five years, Victoria Colony had folded, unlike the settlement to the north, which had grown and prospered through the hard work of the Volga-German farmers. In 1913 the abandoned colony was absorbed, and Herzog was renamed Victoria, honoring the area's English heritage.
Cathedral of the Plains was erected 1908-11, mostly by hand labor. Officially St. Francis Church, the building is 220 feet long, with towers 141 feet high. The Romanesque cathedral is constructed of native limestone. The stained glass windows were imported from Munich, Germany.
Elsie went on to say
This is not far from Hays, Kansas, where we go for the Advanced Square Dance weekend at the end of October each year, and we have gone to see the cathedral. It is a beautiful place and has a fascinating history, which is shared with visitors by guides who are members of the community. As I remember, this building is the 3rd one built by the congregation as each previous one was outgrown. Each family contributed labor and materials, especially the limestone which underlies the whole area and has long been used to make fence posts for all the farms. Otis and I went on another tour in the area and saw the process used in making the fence posts. The limestone was uncovered (from the layer of soil on top) and split into fence post sized pieces, using layers of limestone that were separated from underlying layers. There were no trees around there, so limestone fence posts were a necessity - what a job to make enough to surround a field, let alone a whole farm.
The Volga Germans did bring rust-resistant wheat seed, but I never heard that they were servants to the English. The Catholic religion was strong in the area and each community had its own church, but none were as grand and beautiful as the one at Victoria. It is just a few miles south of I-70 and quite spectacular - we had often admired it against the skyline and were glad to have the chance to see it.]