St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church is the massive first parish in Breese, Illinois. Founded in 1858, the current church is from 1867.

It’s a massive church, expressed in the German Gothic Revival style with a central spire and two octagonal turrets flanking.

The interior, which was closed when we visited, is most likely a typical German Hallkirche in design, with a central nave and two side aisles and no transept per se.

The church is also one of the largest I’ve ever seen built with rough stone construction. Due to its age, there apparently was not a steady brick supply for what was surely a heavy German congregation.

To the left of the front door and set back from the street is what I presume is the rectory, which looks to have been built after the Civil War.

The parish school looks to be from the early Twentieth Century.

Out on the western edge of town is St. Dominic’s cemetery, which has a preponderance of crosses marking graves.

Not surprisingly, many of the epitaphs are in German.

There was a horrible mining accident in Breese back in 1906, which you can read about here (warning: graphic descriptions). This memorial below commemorates the five of the six miners who died in the accident.

Below are the graves of parish priests.