"Sterling was then growing and a new railroad was coming to it when the Burlington was building from Holdrege in Nebraska to Cheyenne in Wyoming. From the graders on this road I collected enough money to buy a block of ground in Sterling, and in 1888 I built a frame church which was dedicated by Bishop Matz, June 4, 1889— the feast of its patron, St. John the Baptist. The church had the misfortune of being hit three times by hurricanes and demolished the third time."

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