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On the first day of the Kornthal parsonage workshop, a thick layer of fog swirled over the rolling green farmland that characterizes Southernmost Illinois. It was a beautiful beginning to a productive two-week project. The 
Kornthal church and parsonage, and a documented burial ground, are the sole remaining pieces of a 19th Century settlement that at one time also included a distillery, box factory, schoolhouse, and grist mill. Kornthal, means “valley of grain” in German, and the settlement began in the 1850’s, when Austrian immigrants traveling by flatboat up the Mississippi River from New Orleans decided to make Southern Illinois their home.
As with all our projects, the workshop at the Kornthal parsonage was a partnership between AiP and local preservation programs. Our primary partner was the Kornthal Union County Memorial, a non-profit formed for the purpose of saving and restoring the Kornthal Church and site. Our second key collaborator was the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale’s Preservation Summer Program, led by Prof. Robert Swenson. This annual summer class allows students and community “listeners” to work together on projects researching and documenting historic events and sites in Southernmost Illinois. The workshop also received support from the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, which provided a grant of $2,500 to cover some of the workshop expenses.
The current church parsonage was built circa 1900 after the original parsonage burned to the ground. The large two-story, wood-frame house is a fine example of the Queen Anne style and is virtually unaltered from its original construction. Particular features are the spindled porch frieze, cutaway corners embellished with gingerbread trim and the ornamental bargeboards which are mimicked in 
miniature in the gable above the cattycorner porch entry. Although the parsonage was built 40 years after the original settlement, it retains its original association with the site as well as its architectural features. It also may just prove to be the key to the site’s future. Discussions are underway about the future use of the house. Vacant, it is at risk of vandalism. There are several possibilities for generating revenue that could be used to maintain the structures and make them self-sustaining. One idea is to open the first floor with new kitchen for wedding receptions and other gatherings, and rent the second floor to a caretaker. Primary consideration is being given to installing a public bathroom on the first floor. Currently, the adventurous and desperate are sent behind the church to the old outhouse.
The building is in fair condition; water damage is the primary cause of the deterioration, seen in the porch’s decorative elements, windows, and porch roofs. The 
workshop provided a thorough introduction to the art and science of preservation and provided ample opportunity to get some hands-on experience. Bill Black, Jr., a leader in the field of preservation in his home of Paducah, Kentucky and throughout the region, served as the workshop instructor. Meeting participants on the deteriorated front porch of the parsonage, he described his philosophy of building preservation. Participants learned, as AiP has always espoused, that a key to preservation is saving as much historic material as possible – in this case, both to keep superior old growth wood in place, and to retain the look of aging that distinguishes old from new.
The workshop was run in a triage manner in order to focus on the most critical aspects of the work. The porch roof was the foremost problem as leaks had caused the porches to rot to the point that the roof itself was collapsing. Participants removed two layers of shingles and determined that the roof needed to be repaired with flashing and counter flashing along the water-damaged areas. They installed new aluminum flashing, with Mr. Black demonstrating the proper placement of flashing at the juncture of the lower roof shingles with original wood siding.
The front porch was braced by 2x4s and 4x4s to prevent the roof from collapsing while the posts and beams were restored. Bill Black Jr. brought in Abatron wood hardener from his contracting company. To use it, all of the rotted 
wood needed first to be hardened; after it dried for 24 hours the participants filled the wood with putty to reconstruct all the spindles and posts. Seeing how well the formula was working with the spindles, the group tried to fix as much rotted wood elsewhere on the house as possible. The hard-working volunteer crew was also able to repair the back porch roof, save a 14-foot upper porch beam, and begin scraping the loose paint from porch elements and the body of the house. They learned to remove only loose paint in order to allow the rest of it to provide texture and a sense of history to the building.
Seventeen volunteers pitched in for preservation work at the parsonage - ten community members, three students and two professors from SIUC, and AiP participants coming from Cyprus and northern Illinois.
Preservation Summer students added an additional element to the project. Under the guidance of Prof. Mike Batinski, Chair of SIUC’s History Department, they gathered oral histories from the many community members who came to share their own stories about the site. In addition to recording these oral histories, students scanned 400 documents relating to people and events associated with the site that residents brought along with them. These documents will be catalogued as part of the project.
Tawny Abraham, Joe Wolz, and Kaitlin Dorn interviewed people from all ages and from all over the continent. People from Texas managed to stop by for interviews, and people from Florida also contacted the students. The personal interview brought a whole new depth to the project. Most people brought in photos of just the building itself. After they felt comfortable, they would share a bit more. They brought pictures of people, genealogies, photos from the Rhineland, bibles, books, and newspaper articles. Scanning all the items took longer than expected only because more people came than expected came with even more artifacts than expected. The students had thought up some strategies for interviewing ahead of time, but most of it went out the window as they discovered that when talking with a person about their story, it isn’t a matter of yes or no, right or wrong. It is what that person perceived and how it affected him or her. Most of all there was a sense of relief that the community, the church, and the people would not be forgotten.
Thanks go to Kaitlin Dorn for notes and photographs used in preparing this page.
