From: “Die Liebenthaler und Ihre Kirche 1776-1976”
Liebenthal, on Big Timber Creek, is one of the oldest of the settlements in Rush County, founded by the immigrants of the Saratov/Volga region of the Ukraine in Russia, 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.
The colonists arranged to come to the United States, leaving Saratov, Russia, on October 24, 1875, and on November 2, 1875 the first group boarded the steamship, "Ohio", at the Port of Bremen, Germany, landing 21 days later at the Port in Baltimore, Maryland. Of these immigrants, fourteen families, about 60 persons, founded Liebenthal on February 22, 1876. The town was named after Liebenthal (love valley), Russia. The next group of 59 persons came soon after and settled about a half-mile north of the present town. The Liebenthal settlers could not agree and separated into two settlements. One group moved north a few miles and founded Schoenchen, on the south bank of the Smoky Hill River. Both are named after their towns in the Ukraine.
In Liebenthal a little over two acres were donated for a new Roman Catholic church. Church services were held in homes and in the open air, weather permitting, when an itinerate priest would visit the village, or they would drive to Hays for church. The first church was completed in 1878. In the fall of 1889, a parish house was erected and their first parochial school was built in 1897.
By the early 1900's, the population had increased to over 500 and a new church was needed. From 1902 until 1905, the members of the parish worked to complete the present native stone church. Over two thousand loads of stone were required. This stone was dug from the nearby hills, moved by wagon, cut and shaped, stacked and set to form the walls of this beautiful building. The project was entirely done by the parishioners. The stained glass windows were made by an Austrian/German artist. Twice fire destroyed all of the wood sections and the roof of the cathedral. It was rebuilt and rededicated in 1921 and 1961 but the interior walls and the altar are no longer as beautiful and ornately fine as before the last fire, however, the original stone walls are those erected by the Liebenthal forefathers. St. Joseph's Kirche stands as one of the most beautiful churches on the Kansas plains.
The Liebenthal cemetery sits on a hill overlooking the town. The tombstones are uniquely like those found under the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire.