St. Ann Catholic Church History (Time Line)

In the year 1907, Catholic families living in the Lindenwald area of Hamilton, Ohio attended St. Joseph Church as it was the closest church for those families moving southward in Hamilton. During bad weather, the roads were impassible and a number of families formed a committee with the idea of starting a new parish.

The first meeting was held on October 1, 1907 in the home of Mrs. Paladia Ruhl with Fr. Holthaus, Pastor of St. Joseph Church presiding. The idea was presented to Archbishop and Fr. Holthaus was placed in charge as the request for a new parish was met with favorably.

Mrs. Ruhl's home on Hooven Avenue became a temporary church and the first Mass was said on July 26, 1908, the Feast of St. Ann.

Fr. Holthaus remained in charge of the St. Ann Mission until 1909 when Fr. Herman Santen was appointed pastor. At this time, St. Ann became a church rather than a mission. The new pastor converted part of the Ruhl home into a school and 46 children were admitted. There were 36 Catholic families in the parish.

Fr. Holthaus had purchased 5 lots on Pleasant and Hooven Avenues and in the spring of 1910 work was begun on the combination church and school. A lot of the work was done by Fr. Santen and the parishioners; and on Christmas Day 1910, Mass was celebrated in church. When the structure was finished, Fr. Santen secured 3 sisters from Oldenburg to be in charge of the school. In the spring of 1912, the rectory was built.

Fr. Santen died in March of 1914, and 3 months later Fr. Albert Vanden Bosch became Pastor. The Parish was reorganized and the school began to grow and in 1921 the covenant was built to house the nuns.

Fr. Van's greatest project was to build a new church. The first shovel of dirt was turned on June 5, 1936 and the cornerstone was laid on August 26, 1936 but Fr. Van Died on June 9, 1937 and never saw his project completed.

Fr. Henry Lehman became his successor on July 1, 1937 and the task of completing the church fell on his shoulders. The church was dedicated on May 22, 1938 by Archbishop McNicholas.

When Fr. Lehman was transferred in 1941, Mons. William Welch became the pastor and under his administration, the addition to the school was completed and was ready for use in September, 1951. Four new classrooms were added, office space, the cafeteria and 2 new meeting rooms. Mons. Welch died on August 22, 1955. In November of 1955, Fr. Basil Haneburg was appointed pastor. Fr. Haneburg who received the honorary title of Monsignor was directed to find land for establishing a new parish in Fairfield. At this time, Fr. Hugo Mentink was associate at St. Ann, and he became the first pastor of the newly formed Sacred Heart Parish in Fairfield.

A great many changes have taken place over the years, not only in the parish but in the church itself. Change is always difficult at first but in time we have grown accustomed to most of them

Mons. Haneburg said the first Mass at St. Ann in English instead of traditional Latin. He also said the first Mass with the alter turned around so the priest was facing the people.

The lay people of St. Ann are now very involved in the parish work. There has been a great shortage of priests and the laity have helped lighten some of the burden of the parish priest.

Along with the changes we have had some sad moments. On September 13 1970, Fr. Richard Donovan died; he was an associate at St. Ann at the time of his death. Fr. Gallagher retired in November of 1977 because of poor health, and Mons. Haneburg passed away on June 11, 1984 just before his 60th year as a priest.

During the changing period, the Church renewed it Deacon Program and on July 28, 1979, Mark Brunner of St. Ann was ordained a Permanent Deacon and his involvement in the parish work has proved invaluable to the parish and pastor.

After Mons. Haneburg retired, Fr. Eugene Gallagher was appointed Pastor and served until his health forced his retirement in November of 1977. Fr. Gallagher died in September of 1992.

Fr. Paul Bader served as associate with Fr. Gallagher and pastored during Fr. Gallagher's illness. He was appointed pastor on permanent basis in 1977. During Fr. Bader's service here he made many improvements to the church. The sandstone walls of the church were cleaned, both inside and outside, and new boilers were put in place. A new roof was installed on the school replacing one that had many leaks and a wheelchair ramp was added to the church so that people in wheelchairs could gain access. Fr. Bader also created a business manger position to assist in running the church.  (However, at this time, we do not have a full-time business manager.) While he was pastor we had a renewal program entitled Christ Renews His Pastor which had groups meeting for quite a few years. During his service our present prayer group was first formed. Fr. Bader was transferred in 1986 but still comes to visit when he can. He was replaced by Fr. Robert Mauntel.

During Mauntel's tenure at St. Ann Parish the physical plant was continued to be upgraded. The rectory was remodeled to make the office area separate from the living area of the pastor. The church roof was replaced at this time and the stained glass windows were reglazed and protected by lexan covering to maintain their beauty. Fr. Mauntel also had the present restroom installed in the vestibule of church for handicap access. In the school a new children's library was built and the windows were replaced. Fr. Mauntel remained the pastor until his retirement in June 1992 and was replaced by our present Pastor Fr. Dennis Dettenwanger.

Since Fr. Dennis (as he is known) has been with us there has been a continual upgrade on the physical plant. In the church we have the new confessionals and all the exposed wood around the altars in church has been restored. The flat roofs on the church have been changed to prevent leaking. Also we now have wonderfully landscaped grounds and some new bushes and flowers around the Church.