St. Benedict Church comes down

Workers from Solid Restoration tore down the St. Benedict Catholic Church between New Prague and Jordan this week. The church, which closed in 2011, had deteriorated badly over the last few years and was no longer structurally sound, according to Patrick Sieben of Solid Restoration. He and Co-worker Ryan Wright salvaged as much of the structure as possible before knocking it down this week. They began Monday morning and by midday the north and east walls were down. They planned to finish most of the structure by the end of Monday and begin rigging to take down the bell tower on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Sieben said he was salvaging the bricks and expected to use some of them in a restoration project at Guardian Angels Church in Chaska. One of the bells from the church will be kept at a memorial at the cemetery and the other two will be sold. (Chuck Kajer Photo)