Rev. William Netstraeter: A Life in Three Parts - Paperback

by Daniel Jolls (Author), Michael Jolls (Author)

Father William Netstraeter (1843 - 1924) was born and raised in Westphalia, Germany before emigrating to the United States to complete his studies for the priesthood. At the age of 30, he agreed to be pastor of the distraught St. Joseph's Parish, located in a rural German community in Chicagoland's forest northern territory known as Grosse Pointe. In less than a decade, Fr. Netstraeter turned around the parish's financial troubles and began major expansions. At the same time, he made significant strides in local government and developed a real-estate business that grew the community. As the 1900s progressed, Fr. Netstraeter orchestrated a variety of institutions that would surpass his lifetime, and that have become landmarks of Chicago's North Shore. His achievements would contribute posthumously for over a century, most notably, a legal dispute involving Nazi Germany.