Centennial Flagpole - Liebenthal, KS
N 38° 39.238 W 099° 19.131
14S E 472256 N 4278426
A flagpole located at St. Joseph's Church in Liebenthal, a small town in west-central Kansas, was placed in commemoration of the town's Centennial, as well as the United States Bicentennial.
Waymark Code: WMCPQG
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 09/30/2011
Views: 1
The flagpole sits atop a concrete slab with a bronze plaque on it that reads:
In Memory of
Our Forefathers
On the Anniversary of the
Bicentennial of American Independence
and the
Centennial of the Volga-German Immigration to
Liebenthal, Kansas
July 25, 1976
1876 1976
The following information about the establishment of Liebenthal is from the Legends of Kansas website:
"Established in 1876 this settlement was founded by immigrants of the Saratov/Volga region of the Ukraine in Russia. Located on Big Timber Creek, it is one of the oldest settlements of several communities in Ellis and Rush Counties that were founded by these immigrants who were under the jurisdiction of Francis Joseph I, Austrian Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1875 the Czar of Russia sent out a decree that the German colonists had lost their 100 years of special privileges and must fulfill the same duties and military obligations as all other Russian citizens. Many of them arranged to come to the United States, leaving Russia on October 24, 1875, boarding steamship in Germany, and landing at Baltimore, Maryland three weeks later.
About fourteen families numbering about 60 people then traveled to Kansas where they founded Liebenthal on February 22, 1876. The settlement was named for Liebenthal (love valley), Russia and the newcomers immediately began to build simple sod houses."