Replica of St. Anthony’s Church adorns Mendham Cemetery

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

The Mendham Cemetery is now home to a newly built replica of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, thanks to the carpentry skills of Mendham resident, Larry Bischoff.

His grandson, Travis Kurtz said, “My grandfather did an outstanding job of building the replica that’s at the cemetery south of Mendham.”

The original church was built in 1916 and was located two miles south of Mendham. The church building was moved to a site two miles south of Mendham, and then moved to the town of Mendham in the winter of 1931. In 2005, it was moved to Sage Brush Studios to be used later on as a seasonal gallery beginning in 2009.

Larry Bischoff explained how the idea of a replica of the church came about. “There was a dilapidated shack out at the cemetery and the cemetery fund had some money, so we wanted to put something back. We got the idea for a replica of the original church from Liebenthal parish, and we contacted them about the replica they had built.” The replica at Liebenthal was built by Roger Drever and his son-in-law Adrian Hope from Maple Creek, and Gerald Wagner donated the funds for the construction.

The St. John’s Cemetery, located six miles east and four miles south of Liebenthal, also has a replica of the original church by that name. The structure was built by John Both a number of years ago.

Larry eventually decided to put a little extra work into the project, and instead of constructing a replacement shack, he decided to build a replica of St. Anthony’s Church.

“I had photos of when my dad rebuilt the church in 1984, which I used to help build the structure. We were able to fit six of us in there enjoying refreshments after work,” Larry said. Unfortunately the timing coincided with record high lumber prices, causing the 12’x8’ building to cost approximately $4,000, almost double the anticipated amount.

Larry tackled the project on his driveway, working on it whenever the weather was suitable. After about six weeks, he had completed the exterior of the building with the help of a few volunteers. However, completion of the remainder of the building will be an ongoing project.

“We haven’t finished it because of the price of lumber. We’ll put the stations of the cross in there, and I have some old benches I might put in later on. But it will last forever, unless a tornado takes it away,” Larry concluded.

Next time you are near the Mendham Cemetery, you can stop and take a closer look at Larry’s work.

Glynis and Larry Bischoff stand in front of the replica at Mendham Cemetery. | PHOTO BY TRAVIS KURTZ

Replica of St John’s Catholic Church