Slinger, Wi – A routine paving project at St. Peter’s Parish in Slinger, Wi, turned into an unexpected history lesson after a dump truck from Mac Paving sank about 2 feet into the church parking lot, leading workers to uncover the forgotten foundation of the parish’s former convent. The discovery happened last week as crews from Mac Paving were testing the strength of the subsoil before repaving the parking lot.
During Sunday Mass, Rev. Rick Stoffel shared the story with parishioners, using historic photos of the church campus to explain what had been hidden underground for decades.
According to Stoffel, the area has changed dramatically over the years, particularly after improvements to Highway 175. Historic buildings once occupied the section of the property, to the east of Clare Hall, that is now used for parking and recreation.
The original school building was eventually replaced by the current school, with its first story completed in 1949 and a second story added in 1959. The former convent also remained on the property for several years before it was demolished.
Or so everyone thought.
“As Mac Paving was out there to test the strength of the subsoil, they had a truck driving over it,” Stoffel said. “The rear wheels of the truck sank two feet into the soft subsoil.”
The truck was safely removed, but the incident raised concerns about the stability of the ground.
“They said, ‘We’re going to have to dig here until we find something solid,'” Stoffel said.
Instead of simply finding better soil, the excavation uncovered the concrete basement walls and floor of the former convent that had apparently been buried rather than completely removed.
“They found the concrete walls and floor of the basement of the old convent,” Stoffel said.
The walls in the foundation were about 2-feet thick and made of stone and cement.
This wasn’t the first discovery at St. Pete’s. The upper parking lot was also paved and according to the parish building and grounds committee, they found parts from wagons and the old gas station. There used to be a wagon building factory in the upper church parking lot.
F. Kletti & Sons Blacksmiths and Wagonmakers was on the site around 1890. Now, the site is home to a large parking lot just north of St. Peter Church. Artifacts from the old shop were apparently being found prior to paving the lot.
Back to the lower lot, paving crews filled the old basement with heavy-duty rock to create a stable base before new asphalt was installed. The completed parking lot will continue to serve both as a play area for St. Peter’s School students and parking for the parish offices.
Stoffel admitted the discovery caught everyone by surprise.
“I told people at Mass this morning that we officially had an archaeological site in Slinger,” Stoffel joked, “But we did not find any dead Egyptian pharaohs.”
On a side note:
-Parishioners who attended St. Peter School in the 1940’s and 1950’s said the nuns were the teachers at the school. There were about 8 to 10 nuns that taught music at the school. After the nunnery, the sisters moved into Clare Hall.
-From the St. Peter Parish 150 Years 1856-2006 history book: “The School Sisters of St. Francis came to teach, continuing their services here until 1991. The core of the present church was begun in 1892. The 113 x 49-foot cream-city brick structure was built at a cost of $19,300 and dedicated/blessed on May 1, 1893.”
-Another local historian Larry Gundrum also passed along the thought, that the foundation found may have been tied to the Slinger Transfer trucking company.
GREAT story !