History :

The presence of this large church on the Plains of Kansas is a lasting testimony to the faith and hard work of a people whose roots go deep into the soil of this farming community of Victoria.

The first settlers of this area were gentlemen farmers from England who arrived in 1873 with the intention of duplicating their aristocratic lives in spite of harsh weather and rough ground. They named their village, Victoria, in honor of their queen and laid out the streets according to the plan of a London architect.

They were joined in 1875 by a group of poor immigrants from southern Russia known as Volga-Germans, who were fleeing from service in the Czar's army and dangers to their Catholic faith. Creating a village of sod-huts adjacent to Victoria, they named it Herzog, after their town in southern Russia on the Volga River.

The British soon found pioneer life too extreme of a contrast with respect to the lifestyle they had known in England. They could not make the land adapt to them and they could not adapt to the demands of the land. In a few short years most returned home leaving the town's name as the only lasting memorial to their efforts now in the care of the Volga-German community.

Hardened by their experience of a hundred years on the steppes of Russia, where they had first arrived at the invitation of Empress Catherine the Great in 1763; the Volga-Germans stayed to work with the land and make it their home.