Hirschville, North Dakota

The Hirschville area was settled by German-Hungarians[2] and German-Russians.[3][4]

On May 11, 1911, a U.S. post office was annexed to the general store. The mail route was connected to Taylor in neighboring Stark County.[5] The station was called Hirschville in commemoration of its founder, Casper Hirsch[6][7] (1865–1931, name sometimes also spelled Kaspar[6] or Kasper[8]). Pius Stockie (1885–1960) was appointed mail carrier.[9] Casper Hirsch served as the postmaster at Hirschville until he relocated to Wisconsin in 1917.[6][10] The Hirschville post office was discontinued in 1920.[7]

St. Philip's Parish was established in 1907.[4] On December 12, 1910, Casper and Marianna Hirsch donated 6 acres (24,000 m²) of land for St. Philip's Catholic Church to hold services for German-speaking immigrants. Shortly after the church was completed, Casper Hirsch established a grocery and hardware store nearby. In 1916 a fair was held in Hirschville to raise money for a new church building there.[11][12] The new church served a congregation of 130 families when it was completed.[13] In the 1990s, the Hirschville church was a mission church of Saints Peter and Paul Church in New Hradec.[14]

By the late 1990s, the church's active congregation had declined to only a dozen families at most,[13][15] and a farewell mass was held at the church on June 27, 1998.[16] Although there was local interest in preserving the church with support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the church was burned in 2000.[13][15][17]

• Families Divided on Church's Fate. Photos of St. Philip's Catholic Church (1916–2000)