Paul Dobberstein
Paul Matthias Dobberstein was a German American priest and architect.
Dobberstein was born in Rosenfeld, Germany to Francis "Frank" Dobberstein and Julia Froehlich.
Father Dobberstein was educated at the university of Deutsch-Krone in Germany and at the St. Francis Seminary, in St. Francis, Wisconsin. He was ordained on June 30, 1897.
He raised a daughter who travelled to his parish on an orphan train. She is cited as his adopted daughter in the 1910 [United States census].
Grottoes
Father Dobberstein is most known for designing and building The Shrine of the Grotto of the Redemption, in West Bend, Iowa, in the Roman [Catholic Diocese of Sioux City]. This is actually a series of several connected grottoes. At the neighboring church of Saints Peter and Paul, he also created a fountain and, inside, a nativity scene.Other religious grottoes designed and built by Dobberstein include:
- Sacred Heart Church: Sioux City, Iowa
- Immaculate Conception Grotto: Carroll, Iowa
- Franciscan Convent: Dubuque, Iowa
- Shrine in the St. [Rose of Viterbo Convent] of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration: La Crosse, Wisconsin
- Catholic Cemetery: Wesley, Iowa
- John Brown Park: Humboldt, Iowa