St. Nazianz is a village in

Manitowoc County Manitowoc County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 81,359. Its county seat is Manitowoc. The county was created in 1836 prior to Wisconsin's statehood and organized in 1848. Manitowoc Co ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, United States. Founded in 1854, the population was 714 at the 2020 census.

History

19th century

St. Nazianz was organized in 1854 as a religious colony by a group of German immigrants, led by Father Ambrose Oschwald, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest. The first settlers in the Oschwald group numbered 113 and came to the United States from the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

Baden, Germany The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

, seeking religious freedom.St. Nazianz Centennial Committee: St. Nazianz, 1854-1954
online
/ref> Oschwald and his group sailed for America on the

Feast of Corpus Christi The Feast of Corpus Christi (), also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is a liturgical solemnity celebrating the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; the feast is observed by the Latin Church, in addition to ...

in 1854, on two separate ships. The voyage of one lasted 52 days, and the other 55 days. By the time they arrived in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

by train, several of the group had died. Oschwald bought of land in

for $3.50 per acre. His down payment was $1,500, with the rest paid in five installments. In late August 1854, Oschwald sent six men to locate the land he had purchased. They took a boat from Milwaukee to Manitowoc, the county seat, then headed west by oxcart, getting as far as the place where

Valders file:ValdersWisconsinVillageHall.jpg, Village hall Valders is a village in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 952 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Geology The village is kn ...

now stands. They then cut their way through the dense forest, arriving at their destination on August 27. The men named the site St. Nazianz, in honor of

Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory of Nazianzus (; ''Liturgy of the Hours'' Volume I, Proper of Saints, 2 January. – 25 January 390), also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was an early Roman Christian theologian and prelate who served as Archbi ...

. Oschwald followed on September 1 with more men, and the group began working to clear the land and build log houses. Soon after, work started on the community's first church, a 32-by-24-foot structure, which was built by hand. By October 21, the church was half completed, and Oschwald celebrated the first Mass. Settlers began going by the name "The Association" and agreed to share everything in common and work without pay. That arrangement continued until 1896. The group built shops and mills and the community was thriving within just a few years of its start. People began practicing trades, including blacksmithing,

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. C ...

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

shoemaking Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or '' cordwainers'' (sometimes misidentified as cobblers, who repair shoes rather than make them). In the 18th cen ...

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinetry, furniture making, wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked b ...

tailoring A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

, barrel making, rope making, tanning,

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

brick-making A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for cl ...

baking soda Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt (chemistry), salt compose ...

, and

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

. In the ensuing years, Oschwald helped start several religious organizations, including the Oschwald Brothers and the

Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity are a Congregation of Roman Catholic apostolic religious women. The congregation was founded in 1869 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, later part of the Roman Catho ...

. Oschwald died on February 27, 1873, and was buried under the altar at the old St. Ambrose Church at the Loreto Monastery. Several years later his body was moved to a shrine near Loreto Shrine Chapel in the village. The

Salvatorian The Society of the Divine Saviour (), abbreviated SDS and also known as the Salvatorians, is a clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men in the Catholic Church. The members of the congregation use the nominal SDS after their ...

priests and brothers came to St. Nazianz in 1896, 15 years after the Society of the Divine Savior was founded by Father

Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan, SDS (16 June 1848 – 8 September 1918), was a German Catholic priest and the founder of the Society of the Divine Savior, commonly called the Salvatorians. He was beatified by Pope Francis on May 15, 2021. Li ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The Salvatorian priests and brothers and the Salvatorian sisters worked to improve the holding of the former association and built St. Ambrose Church in 1898.

2000 weather incident

Shortly before noon on May 12, 2000, St. Nazianz and surrounding communities were hit by a severe storm that caused major damage. The storm was initially considered a tornado but was later declared a "thunderstorm super cell moist microburst" by meteorologists. It was reported that the storm produced straight line winds. The

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

reported that at least wind gusts were achieved.National Weather Service
/ref> Residents who were in St. Nazianz as the storm hit said that it went from noon light to midnight darkness in a matter of seconds. The storm roughly followed

U.S. Route 151 U.S. Highway 151 (US 151) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of Iowa and Wisconsin. The southern terminus for US 151 is at a junction with Interstate 80 (I-80) in Iowa County, Iowa, and its northern termin ...

, with St. Nazianz and Chilton receiving the worst of the damage, caused largely by wind and hail. The hail ranged from golf ball-size to baseball-size. Many houses were destroyed by the storm, while others sustained major damage. Many cars were totaled or needed hail damage repair. The total damage caused by this storm to St. Nazianz and surrounding areas was estimated at $122 million. It was the state's first storm to exceed $100 million in damage. No casualties were caused by the storm. The village has since recovered considerably.

Geography

St. Nazianz is located at (44.005717, -87.923604). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the village has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. St. Nazianz is accessible to

I-43 Interstate 43 (I-43) is a Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Wisconsin, connecting I-39/I-90 in Beloit with Milwaukee and I-41, U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) and US 141 in Green Bay. State Trunk Highw ...

exit 144,

WIS 42 State Trunk Highway 42 (often called Highway 42, STH-42 or WIS 42) is a state highway (US), state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs for north–south in northeast Wisconsin from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Sheboygan to the ferry doc ...

, and

WIS 67 State Trunk Highway 67 (often called Highway 67, STH-67 or WIS 67) is a Wisconsin state highway running from the Wisconsin–Illinois state line east of Beloit north to U.S. Highway 151 (US 151) east of Chilton. With the inclusion o ...

by County Highway C, and accessible to U.S. 151 by County Highway A.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 783 people, 324 households, and 209 families residing in the village. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 346 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.1% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.9% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino people of any race were 1.7% of the population. There were 324 households, of which 30.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 35.5% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.97. The median age in the village was 41.8 years. 22.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.7% were from 25 to 44; 27.2% were from 45 to 64; and 15.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 50.2% male and 49.8% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 749 people, 296 households, and 197 families residing in the village. The

was 907.6 people per square mile (348.4/km²). There were 302 housing units at an average density of 365.9 per square mile (140.5/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.80%

, 0.13%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.13% Native American, 0.13% Asian, 0.53% from other races, and 2.27% from two or more races.

or Latino people of any race were 2.27% of the population. There were 296 households, out of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were

living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.09. In the village, the population was spread out, with 28.2% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.7 males. The median income for a household in the village was $40,139, and the median income for a family was $43,750. Males had a median income of $35,341 versus $22,917 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $16,989. About 3.9% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 4.1% of those under age 18 and 15.4% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Joseph Filz, Wisconsin State Representative; lived in St. Nazianz * Victor A. Miller, Attorney General of Wisconsin; lived in St. Nazianz

Images

File:St Nazianz Fire and Rescue.jpg, St. Nazianz Fire and Rescue File:StNazianzWisconsin.jpg, Looking north in St. Nazianz

References

External links

Village of St. Nazianz

St. Nazianz Storm
* Sanborn fire insurance map
1894
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Nazianz, Wisconsin