St CLOUD AND THE BUSCH FAMILY

 

 

     During the planning stages we decided early on that we would like to get to Minneapolis a couple of days early to do a little family history investigation.  Part of Irene's family lived in St Cloud and Red Wing Minnesota. 

 

  Our plan was to make Friday the day for all of this.  Starting out we had to follow our hearts and stomachs.  Researching places to eat, we always go to Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.  Went to the Colossal Cafe in St Paul.  I had the Buffalo Biscuits and Gravy, Irene had Creamed cheese, bacon and Spinach omelet.  Put this on your list of places to eat .  Terrific food and atmosphere.

 

    Irene's great grandparents lived in Red Wing, where they raised 12 children.  Great Grandfather William Frederick was a successful business man, owning and or being part of banks, retail stores and a brick manufacturing plant. 

 

     Three of the children became involved with the Catholic Church.  Joseph as Bishop of St Cloud, William as first an instructor and latter head master of the St Paul Seminary, and  Francis who was a parish Priest in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

    Cortleigh provided us with an almost minute by minute supply of information on the Busch Family via text as we were traveling from Minneapolis to St Cloud.  Names, dates and addresses of important houses, cemeteries and ordinations  of the brothers.  Through her research we were able to visit the St Cloud Orphanage, Bishops House and Cemetery where the Bishop is interred. 

 

      Bishop Joseph Busch presided over the diocese of St Cloud from approximately 1916 until his death in 1953.  He built the St Cloud Orphanage in appx 1920 that still exists today as the St Cloud Children's home.  The orphanage was built originally on 40 acres that was later increased to 65 acres.  It sits high on a bluff overlooking a beautiful meadow and the Mississippi River.

 

   When we visited the Orphanage (children's home) we were greeted at the front door by an employee who told us that normally tours were available by appointment.  Irene described the purpose of our visit and here relationship to Bishop Busch.  The employee, Kathy ,(who we discovered was the Director of Admissions ) immediately offered to take us on a private tour.  Wow, how cool ! 

 

  
     The children's home receives children from all over the United States, from Florida, to Las Vegas and even California.  They range in age from 9  to 18 years of age.  They come with significant problems such as abandonment, abuse, drug addiction, prostitution, homeless and any number of other life situations you can think of .  When leaving the Children's home, each child gets to take home one of the handmade quilts that are donated and hang over the pews in the chapel. The grounds are gorgeous, the buildings are classic brick masterpieces, and the Chapel is stunning.

 

     Cortleigh provided us the address and an email copy of a picture and news article of the Bishops house, which is now the Chancery of The St Cloud Diocese.   Leaving the Orphanage, we plugged in the address in our Tablet's (which we call Lucy) GPS and proceeded to drive 10 miles out in the country to the wrong address.  We turned around and returned to St Cloud to within about 5 blocks of the Orphanage.  We call the GPS Lucy because she very often has some 'splaining to do .

 

   The Bishops house is stunning to look at.  It appears to be situated on about 1.5 acres of land with at least 3 more houses or dormitories on the same plot of land.  This house is also high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi river. 

 

    On entering the Chancery, we were greeted by Julie who we described the purpose of our visit to.  Julie was very pleased to meet someone that was related to the Bishop and said that she wanted to introduce us to Louise, who due to having worked at the Chancery for the longest time, probably had a greater knowledge of the Bishop than any one around today.

 

    Louise stopped what she was doing and told us that she would have to go to the archives to find specific information for us.  As she was going down the stairs to the basement and the Archives, a Priest was coming down the stairs.  Julie then introduced us to Father Bob, who is acknowledged as a Historian for the Diocese. 

 

     Father Bob then spent about 45 minutes discussing and telling us about the Busch Family, who lived at the house and how it got built. It seems that when Bishop Busch was appointed as Bishop, his mother, Anna Busch, came up to St Cloud, from Red Wing to help  find a home. She said there were none appropriate for her son. She then hired an architect, found a piece of land and donated $35,000 of the $40,000 needed to build the home  This was in about 1916.

 

    Father Bob described Monsignor William Busch as an astute  and shrewd investor .  He would often invest in companies that were not in the best of shape or perhaps were just a little ahead of their time.  Father Bob called the Monsignor "Billy" and said he was a legend the seminary  of St Paul when Father Bob  attended. He gave him great kudos .

 

    We then drove to the Cemetery where Bishop Busch was interred and found his marker on the top of the hill along with all of the Bishops.

 

    We left to head back to Minneapolis to be on time for a very important appointment.  We had tickets for the Twins/Orioles game at Target Field.  Target field is a new stadium and is beautiful.  Sight lines to the field appear to be terrific from virtually every part of he ball park, and the scoreboards and electronic signs are brilliant and easy to read.

 

    We were seated next to a young fan who was proud that his family took an annual vacation to see at least one ballpark  After discussing Old Yankee Stadium, Coors field and the new White Sox Stadium, he pronounced that he did not think there was any stadium that compared to Target Field.  It simply was the best. I did not want to burst his bubble and extol the virtues of AT&T park.

  

     The Twins went ahead early by a score of 5-0.  Bullpen could not hold a lead and they lost 9-6 in 10 innings.  

 

   Thus ended our first full day.