Leoville, Kansas, 1922.
Leoville, Kansas, is an unincorporated community in Decatur County. It is also an extinct town, as it no longer has a post office.
Leoville was founded in 1885 by a colony of German Catholics, who named their community in honor of Pope Leo XIII.
Among these early settlers were Joseph Staufer, Dochus Demperwolf, Bernard Ravy, Paul Koerperich, William Wold, John Goscha, John Zodrow, Stanislaus Pankaskie, Mike Campbell, Bartel and Peter Funk, Dernard and George Schroer, Frank Nieberding, John Kitzke, John Wieberding, Frank Heitman, Joseph Reichert, John Schilz, Peter and John Kaus, John Stegeman, Henry Kruse, Joseph Ritter, and Joseph Zimmerman. Most came originally from Germany via Iowa, Nebraska, and Eastern Kansas, by prairie schooner or the Rock Island Railroad.
The first Holy Mass was said for these settlers in April 1885 in a one-room sod house owned by Frank Heitman. The simple furniture and bedding had to be removed so that the missionary priest, Reverend August Reichert, of New Almelo could preach. This sod house was located about one-fourth of a mile West of the present church in Leoville.
In September 1885, the pioneers welcomed Reverend Frank Schrank, a secular priest and missionary. By this time, building a frame church.
Frank Heitman, a land agent, donated a 10-acre plot for use as church property. In building this church, Joseph Dempewolf was the architect, Anthony Trommeter was the mason, and Joseph Berger was the carpenter. They built this first church with the help of the willing parishioners. The first church was a frame structure, measuring 32 by 36 feet.
Reverend Frank Schrank celebrated the first Mass in the new building on December 8, 1885.
The first parish house was finished in 1886. In 1889, Joseph Berger suggested the name Leoville for the village in honor of Pope Leo XIII, who was then pope.
In 1890, the frame church became too small to accommodate the people, and wings were added to the original structure, lengthening the building to 75 feet.
The first parish school was built in 1890.
Sisters Convent in Leoville, Kansas.
In 1909, a convent for the Sisters of St. Joseph was built.
A grade school was built by the parish in 1912 to accommodate the large number of children.
By this time, the frame church was too small for all the parishioners to attend Mass at once, so the frame structure was moved to the northern part of the town. Services were held at this location while the first brick church was being built.
Work began on the construction of the first brick church on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1914. The dimensions of the new structure were 113 by 42 feet, with a 124-foot-high spire. It was a large, beautiful building, impressive for its beauty and stateliness, trimmed in limestone and erected for $60,000.
An old church in Leoville, Kansas.
A high school was organized in 1918.
On November 12, 1922, the townspeople watched as the church, into which they had put so much thought and labor, went up in flames. The fire had started in the furnace room from an overheated furnace during Sunday morning High Mass and quickly spread due to the high winds. Men of the parish carried out three items that had been saved: the sanctuary lamp, the Sacred Heart statue, and the Pieta. When the fire was out, only the chimney, bell tower, and brick walls remained.
Under the leadership of Pastor Fr. Schmitt and with the full cooperation of the parish, work began to tear down and clear away the debris. The laying of the cornerstone for the new $70,000 Immaculate Conception Church was held on April 18, 1923.
Before long, a modified Romanesque church with 97-foot twin towers rose to dominate the landscape. It measured 140 feet long by 52 feet wide, with ten large stained-glass windows. The brick building with a Spanish tile roof was supported by four great trusses, each weighing 7,300 pounds. The entire structure of the new church was completed and dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1923, just one year and 15 days after the fire. The completed church cost $118,000 and had a capacity of 750 people.
A post office was established on November 21, 1923.
A new high school building was constructed in 1925.
A new grade school was built in 1950.
Leoville, Kansas School.
As part of school unification, the high school closed in 1969, and the grade school closed in 1976. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia taught at the schools for 65 years.
Catholic Church in Leoville, Kansas, today by Kathy Alexander.
Leoville’s post office closed on July 1, 1980.
Today, the community is served by the Hoxie USD 412 public school district.
Leoville is located along K-223, 3.6 miles south-southwest of Dresden.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, July 2026.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Decatur County
Old store in Leoville, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
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