Wilson Church hasn't drawn a crowd like this in years: On Tuesday, the cross was removed; a signal of the end for the landmark built more than a hundred years ago by Czech and German immigrants. It's more than a piece of history to those who have memories inside.

"My grandfather is buried here, my parents, my sister ... not having it here will be tough," said Vicky Bravitz. She remembers the church as a memento of her family. 

Her grandfather helped build the church, which, over the decades, has held marriages, baptisms, memorial day services, and more. The church also used to have novenas frequently. 

Her friend Catherine Novacek, grew up attending services there. Novacek was a member of the choir while her brother was an altar server.

"Those are special times," she reminisced. There used to be dances there where she remembers the kids falling asleep on the stage with the band. 

The white edifice stopped offering gatherings in the late '70s after the pastor deemed the congregation too small to make the drive out to the rural area. In the years that followed, it served as a beacon of beauty for farmers who woke up to the sunrise illuminating it.

The doors and windows were nailed shut after a tornado ripped its woodwork to shreds in 1999, but vandals still found their way inside.

To deter thieves, the board in charge of the cemetery decided it was in the best interest of the graves to tear the building down.


Secretary of the Cemetery board David Jedlicka there were also concerns it would soon collapse on its own, especially after the gutters collapsed this past July.

"If the church could talk it'd be full of celebrations ... but it is beyond repair ... and we don't have the funds to fix it up," he said. 

The cross will eventually return to the site where the church once stood. One last stone in the graveyard.

As the work was going on above -- an entrance was drilled into the church's original door below. You can still see this until it's demolished later this month.