Father C. F. X. Goldsmith
December 22, 1845 - November 24, 1890
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Born in Rochester NY, the 22nd of December, 1845, he received his first education in the parochial schools of his native town. At the age of thirteen, through the intervention and kind offices of his friend, Father Krautbauer, later bishop of Green Bay, the young student gained admission to the provincial seminary of St. Francis, near Milwaukee, at the opening of the fall term in 1858. He entered the junior preparatory course, from which he graduated in 1861. After three years spent at the seminary, he was sent at the age of nineteen to the American College at Louvain in Belgium. On July 25th 1868, Charles Francis Xavier Goldsmith was ordained priest in the historic old cathedral of Malines, Belgium. He offered up his first sacrifice of the mass in the little chapel at Vigneulles in the diocese of Metz, where some sixty odd years gone by his mother had been baptized. In the fall of 1868, Father Goldsmith returned to this country and was assigned temporarily to the diocese of Milwaukee. In the latter part of the month of May, 1869, the young priest traveled to La Crosse to meet with Bishop Heiss. May 23, he left La Crosse for Chippewa Falls.
Father James Schwebach, the present bishop, accompanied him to the boat landing. He reached Wabasha in time to catch the "Monitor," which was about to leave for Eau Claire with a crew of rafts men returning to the Falls.Their care-free and skin-full of deviltry ways gave the young priest a good idea of the sort of people among whom he was coming. From Eau Claire the youthful missionary started overland for his destination
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The first work to which the new pastor gave attention was the preparing of a large class for confirmation and just one month later, Bishop Heiss visited Chippewa Falls. The church must be cleaned and decorated, evergreens and flowers were procured and all is put to rights; it is Thursday, May 27, 1869, the Feast of Corpus Christi; the little church is jammed with people; it is a heterogeneous congregation, representing four or five nationalities; the new pastor celebrates his first mass. Such was the first day of Father Goldsmith's ministry in Chippewa Falls; such the impression he produced. Yes, he went like the others, but not until he had wrought marvelous changes in this people, their places of worship, their children, their city.
But time works changes none can resist. With the pastor's ill health came the first lull in the labor. Now worn out by twenty years' hard missionary labor, the beloved pastor, still in the prime of life, fell under the weight of toil. Mourning filled each heart on November 24, 1890, as the news spread that Father Goldsmith was at rest in the Peace of God. "And enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified."
His panegyrist thus summed up his career and character, "A priest, so worthy of his sublime dignity and power; a priest, so richly endowed with splendid gifts and talents; a priest, so full of noble works and aspirations…Oh let the Chippewa Valley down the raiments of mourning! One of its fairest flowers has been plucked - one of its stateliest pines has fallen, - one of its foremost public men has gone from amongst us - one of its noblest priests has departed."
And his biographer - the Hon. J. A. Anderson speaks of his last moments and dispositions as follows: "The weakening of his vital powers went constantly on during the autumn of 1890 and with the failure of his bodily strength came a change most agreeable and beautiful to behold and to know. The dross and the alloy of his nature were burning out, leaving the pure gold of his better self - the heart and soul of Goldsmith without the pride, the hauteur and the worldly mask he used to wear. And the residue was a grand and noble man."
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The Church
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Time wore on, a town sprung up where a cluster of wigwams once stood, and the silent forest gave way before the march of civilization. Catholics were in the majority among the early settlers, and now and then some other priest on his way to more important missions would stop to offer the Saving Victim. |
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The first St. Mary's - a small structure sixteen by eighteen - was built in the summer of 1856. The carpenter's bench served as an altar and a row of pine benches along the walls as seats. Thus was sown the spiritual mustard seed which was to produce a tree goodly in size and fruit-bearing. The one plan and purpose, however, which now engaged the mind and challenged all the energies of "the boy priest" was the characteristic energy to accomplish this purpose. After surmounting many difficulties, work on the building was begun in the spring of 1870. The building was described in the notice for bids as of Roman style, cruciform, with a nave one hundred and thirty-eight by fifty-six feet, having a transept eighty-eight by thirty feet, and with walls from Chippewa sandstone thirty-six feet above the water table. James Lawler, a builder of some note, secured the contract for the stone work and caused the cut stone to be hauled from Eau Claire, while M. J. Cummings was selected to superintend and construct the wood work. |
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The following building committee was appointed: Louis Nado, Coliche Allen, Frank Bonville, P. Lego, L. Bonneilier, D. Felix, Louis Huber, F. Kleinheintz, M. Hogan, M. Hall, J. M. Cummings and Dr. McBean, while in a characteristic way, Father Goldsmith named himself president and treasurer of the committee. Such time as he could spare from actual church work here, and attendance upon the half-dozen missions scattered through the river country, he devoted to urging on and collecting for the new church. In this enterprise, apparently so daring, the good will of the whole community was so manifest, so hearty and so generous, that while we admire the labor done, the journeys undertaken, and the hardships suffered by the pastor, and honor and applaud him, we must always bear in mind that back of this splendid courage was the sympathy and the moral support of the entire people. |
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August 22, 1872 was a happy day for all. It was the occasion of the solemn consecration of the church. On this occasion, ceremonies of more than ordinary grandeur marked the fulfillment of a long cherished hope, on the bank overlooking the Chippewa River. Maid and matron, merchant, tradesman and the radiant, fearless, lumber-jack, all, did their share, - Notre Dame, as she stands giant-like, is a monument to their combined efforts, the fruit of their sacrifices. Little was done toward the interior decoration of the church till 1875, when stations and a sanctuary lamp were procured, and in 1878 the new altar. All this activity did not end with the church building. Religious societies were organized. |
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Members grew in numbers so that a few years later there had to be an expansion and the Germans built themselves a beautiful church - St. Charles Borromeo; still after another expansion, the Holy Ghost church, on the south side and let us not forget the mustard seed sown in Flambeau and Bob's Creek.
In 1904-1906 Notre Dame has carried the Word to Springfield, Elk Mound, Cook's Valley, Chetek, Weyerhaeuser, Strickland, Chippewa City, Anson, Bob's Creek and Holcombe, beside the Hospital ministry, the Poor Farm, the Insane Asylum and the Wisconsin Home for the Feeble-minded.
And today, The Church of Notre Dame, in all humility, rejoices in the large number of her children, where one hundred fifty years ago she existed only as a speck in the wilderness, today she continues to welcome her children and visitors from all over. |
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This writing and photographs are from the 1906 Golden Jubilee Memories book. Imprimatur James Schwebach, Bishop of La Crosse. |
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Renovations
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Father Goldsmith recommended the purchase of the former First Ward School and began a Catholic elementary school in 1881.
The School Sisters of Notre Dame of Milwaukee began a long tradition of educating students in this area. The school was enlarged in 1885 to include two new elementary school rooms and a spacious high school room. |
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In the spring of 1894 the difficult problem of raising the Goldsmith Memorial Chapel ($2,200) was solved. The structure was completed in autumn and November 20, 1894, witnessed the solemn ceremony of transferring the remains to their last earthly abode. It was gratifying to note the generosity with which the various societies responded to the efforts of the pastor in his endeavor to beautify this tribute of gratitude to one who had done so much for them all.The Goldsmith Chapel has four stained glass windows in all in the Chapel; each represent on of four local Catholic organizations of the time: Saint John Baptiste Society, The Catholic Knights, the Rosary Society, and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. |
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In 1887, the interior of the Church was renovated and carved chorister stalls were placed in the sanctuary.
From 1904-1906 more extensive improvements had been made. A pipe organ ($3,500) had been placed in the church; central heating plant, supplying with warmth, the church, the school, the rectory and the convent, had been put in at an expenditure of $15,715 and a sanitary system in the school for about $2,000. Also a new wing ($3,000) added to the school building; new furniture and apparatus ($2,800) put into all the class rooms; the school-grounds once a sand pile, were made to grow grass and beautiful shade trees; two lots were added to the school property and five acres to Hope Cemetery ($1,750).
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McDonell High School
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The McDonell High School building was ready for students in the school year 1907-1908. It was built as a memorial to the wife of Alexander G. McDonell and to his children, a daughter, Emily Regina, and a son Donald Henry. A. B. McDonell and another son, A. A. McDonell, also set up a trust fund for the support of the High School. |
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In 1962, negotiations began in an attempt to liquidate the funds for use toward a new Catholic High School. To the left is the architect's proposal for the new Catholic High School. It shows a possible lay-out of the entire plant on the acquied site: School, Sister's Convent, the Brothers' House, parking space, footbal practice field, and room for future expansion. |
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On the right is the architect's drawing of the new McDonell High School. This plan embodies the Christian Brothers' ideas. They have one principle: "Build well, but hold the cost down." They know how to economize on space. They favor a one story building where the site affords elevation as this one does. This proposed plan will accomodate 700 students. |
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Photos Courtesy of Chippewa Valley Historical Society
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