It's peaceful at Kansas City's Mount Saint Mary's Cemetery — the resting place of Bishop John Joseph Hogan.
Chances are, you've heard that name; Hogan Preparatory Academy is named for him.
What might surprise you is the bishop, a native of County Limerick in southwestern Ireland, founded an agricultural colony in the Ozarks, which came to be known as the Irish Wilderness.
Hogan was born in the town of Bruff, on Ireland's Morningstar River in 1829. He came from a farming family. After immigrating to the states and attending seminary, Father Hogan was ordained in St. Louis, April 10, 1852.
He was a well-loved charismatic figure, serving as a missionary in the lead mining region around Potosi, Missouri.
His fellow countrymen faced severe economic hardships, so, after finding land in the Ozarks for $1 an acre, Father Hogan and about 160 Irish-born families, most with agricultural backgrounds, headed south.
Crystal Payton, author of the book "The Mystery of the Irish Wilderness," shared what motivated Hogan to find new opportunity.
"His purpose was to quote 'aid these people to rise from their condition of servitude to ownership and cultivation of land, so as to secure them a settled and permanent mode of existence that would accord better with their higher social aspirations and religious principals,'" Payton shared.
For two years, the colony thrived. A log cabin church was built at a cost of $85.13. With the community up and running, Father Hogan left the Ozarks in 1859.
Missouri was a split state during the Civil War, the colony was raided by Union and Confederate troops, and bushwackers.
Farms were burned, men conscripted — cattle, horses, food and supplies stolen. Lives lost and most settlers moved away.
Father Hogan was deeply troubled by what the war brought to the Show-Me state. Payton quotes from his book.
"Alas, the devastations of war and the woes and sorrows that follow it," she read. "Who will now build up those waste places? Who will now lead back those poor scattered settlers to their humble but ruined home?"
Father Hogan became bishop of the St. Joseph diocese in 1868 and he was ordained bishop of the newly-formed Kansas City diocese in 1880.
Bishop Hogan died in February of 1913. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was filled beyond capacity for his memorial service. Many mourners knelt outside in the snow. The funeral cortege stretched for over 2 miles.
The Bishop's legacy is his role in the church, education and nature. In 1984 over 16,000 wooded acres near Doniphan, Missouri, were designated the Irish Wilderness by the U.S. Forest Service. It covers much of the same land Bishop Hogan envisioned as a farming community, where residents could grow crops, raise families and live in peace.
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Uniquely Kansas City is a partnership between KSHB 41 News and retired Kansas City journalist Bill Grady, highlighting the historical stories that makes the Kansas City area truly unique through audio and digital storytelling. Is there a piece of Kansas City history you'd like us to share? Send us an email at desk@kshb.com.
