County of church: Osage County
Location of church: Main St. @ Mill St., Westphalia
Phone: (573) 455-2320
Built: 1848
Architect: Supervised by Jesuits
Architectural Style: Romanesque-Gothic
"St. Joseph Catholic Church in Westphalia, Missouri, is a three aisle,
cruciform building of stone construction with a frame clerestory, an
octagonal apse, and a central belfry steeple towering above the entrance.
The church, picturesquely situated on a hilltop and facing northeast,
was originally erected in 1848 and has undergone two major alterations
since that date.
"The structure is made of two different stone materials, a gray lime
stone with travertine-like texture that is used for the foundation and
trim, and a local soft tan stone called cottonstone employed for the
balance of the work. All the stone.'is roughly dressed and laid in
random courses. The clerestory is wood frame covered with sheet metal
embossed to simulate stone masonry.
"St. Joseph Church is significant as a visual and social landmark in
Westphalia,'Missouri. The church.is also noteworthy for its role
in the development of the community.
"The Romanesque-Gothic building provides a forceful orientation point
as it is situated prominently on a hill. Surrounded by a school,
convent, and German-influenced nineteenth century houses; the church
can be seen from any point in what seems to be an Old World Village
transplanted to the middle of the American continent. From a
distance outside of the town, the church spire can be seen towering
above everything around it.
"Lewis Mumford states that a town's physical environment becomes a
symbol of its citizens' social relatedness and must be subservient
to a town's social needs. Social facts are primary; the physical
organization of-the town, its industries and its markets, its lines
of communication and traffic, revolve around social functions.^
While the church was under the supervision of the Jesuits, 1835-1883,
the church reflected the daily lives of its parishioners. Even the
alterations done in 1883 and 1905 are a reflection of the changing
needs of the people of Westphalia, if for no other reason than that
a larger church was needed.
"The central location of a church, even the mere presence of one in
a town, in this area and in this era, was significant. Early urban
promoters realized that the presence of a church attracted settlers
and often offered the church land and money to build with if they
would locate in their town.
"Historically, this church has much to offer. The Low-German
community of Westphalia was founded in 1835 by a colony of Catholic
Westphalians and Rhinelanders from Northern Germany. The settlement
of seven families initiated Osage County to German immigrants. Some
of the immigrants were well educated and apparently had hoped to
"...associate themselves -in some way with an institution of learning
in Central Missouri, but the primitive conditions they encountered
soon disillusioned them and some of their number returned to Germany."' ~ NRHP Nomination Form