unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
. It occupies small portions of two townships-- Armstrong and
Robinson Robinson may refer to:
People and names
* Robinson (name)
Fictional characters
* Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719
Geography
* Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 19 ...
. The community is named for St. Wendel Parish, which in turn is named after
Wendelin of Trier
Saint Wendelin of Trier (; 554 - 617 AD) was a hermit and abbot. His cultus is wide-spread in German-speaking areas. He is a patron of country folk and herdsmen. He is honored on October 22.
Life
Because no information about him was availabl ...
, patron saint of Wendel Wassmer, who originally owned the grounds used for this Catholic church building.
the
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
had established a
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
for this settlement.
History
The settlement was founded by Marcus and Wendel Wassmer. The Wassmer brothers were
German-Canadian
German Canadians ( or , ) are Canadian citizens of German ancestry or Germans who emigrated to and reside in Canada. According to the 2016 census, there are 3,322,405 Canadians with full or partial German ancestry. Some immigrants came from wh ...
coopers who had immigrated from
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Ba ...
to
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. Legend has it that in the spring of 1837, they walked south to this vicinity. Upon their return to Toronto in the summer, they found they no longer had jobs and returned on foot once again to the same grounds they had visited that spring. Their second arrival is said to have happened in the fall of 1837. The Wassmers secured some farmland, and their descendants still live there today.
Prior to December, 1841,
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
had been celebrated in St. Wendel parish from the time of its creation in the home of Martin Kohl, but in Christmas week of the year mentioned, the congregation—composed of twenty families—prepared the material and erected within five days a log structure as a house of worship named in honor of Wendel Wassmer's
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
,
Wendelin of Trier
Saint Wendelin of Trier (; 554 - 617 AD) was a hermit and abbot. His cultus is wide-spread in German-speaking areas. He is a patron of country folk and herdsmen. He is honored on October 22.
Life
Because no information about him was availabl ...
.
In 1881, Wendel Station was built at mile 233 on the Evansville and Peoria Railroad at St. Wendel Road, approximately north of the church. By 1882, St. Wendel's population was 175 individuals.
A post office was established at Saint Wendel in 1852, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1907.