3239 South 9th Street (at Utah)
St. Louis (Soulard), Missouri 63118
www.polishchurchstlouis.org

In spite of the construction of Interstate 55 and the encroaching presence of Anheuser-Busch, the little cluster of buildings at the corner of 9th and Utah has maintained its picturesque appearance reminiscent of 19th century St. Louis. Saint Agatha's has been here since its founding in 1871, the fourth south-side German Catholic parish. (The Chamber Chorus has sung at all the others: St. Mary of Victories, Sts. Peter and Paul, and St. Francis de Sales; the December 22, 2002 performance marks its first visit to St. Agatha's.)

The original building, dedicated in 1872, was designed by Adolphus Druiding, a young (born 1839) native of Hannover, Germany. Druiding provided churches ranging from modest to imposing over a territory that extended from Buffalo to Green Bay. In St. Louis he designed the two-towered baroque front for the Shrine of St. Joseph. His 1870 design for St. John Nepomuk, rebuilt after the 1896 tornado, is quite similar to St. Agatha, which Druiding had already rebuilt, beginning in 1884 (cornerstone 1885). In both, he retained the gabled and buttressed front façades from the earlier buildings. At St. Agatha, the transept, choir or sanctuary, and sacristy were not completed until 1899.

The general contractor for this work was Joseph Stauder, who was a practicing architect himself. Stauder designed the parish buildings here, including the 1892 convent, the 1896 rectory, and the 1908 school. Through Joseph's son Adolph and his grandson Arthur, the Stauder firm has continued to the present, still specializing in Catholic institutions. Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Gabriel's are familiar later examples of their work.

St. Agatha's German affiliation is most apparent in its hall church design, the side aisles being almost as tall as the nave. The large bright images of the stained glass are characteristic of the best work of Emil Frei Studios, which provided 14 windows here in 1905. Having two separate Nativity scenes, one for the shepherds and one for the magi, the windows are especially appropriate to a Christmas concert. Those in the apse behind the altar depict Old Testament scenes of sacrifice, while the rose windows in the transepts show the Crucifixion and the Coronation of the Virgin. Thanks to the research of Mary Margaret Stiritz for her book, St. Louis: Churches and Synagogues, we know the makers of many of the liturgical furnishings. Conrad Schmidt of Milwaukee created the high altar, where St. Agatha presides with her tongs, symbolic of her martyrdom (look it up!). Lansbeck and Macke of Louisville made the side altars, the left dedicated to the Virgin and the right to St. Joseph. The mural above St. Joseph depicts his death, drawn from the ancient but non-canonical text entitled The History of Joseph the Carpenter. Fresco artist William Kloer worked here both in 1899 and in 1920, when a new Pietà shrine by Henry Dreisoerner was installed and the tile and marble installed in the vestibule.

Notes by Esley Hamilton and Philip Barnes
Photos by John W. Shaffer