Antonino is an unincorporated community in Ellis County, Kansas. It was established in 1904 by parishoners from St. Francis Catholic Church in Munjor who wanted to establish a parish nearer to their homes. Most of these re-settlers originially came from the colony of Ober-Monjou. They wanted to name the town St. Anthony, but because there was already a town called Anthony in Harper County, they settled on the name of Antonino, the name of the town in Brazil in which several of the families had lived before they came to Kansas.
By 1912, a wooden church, rectory, and a two-story convent along with both parochial and public school buildings had been constructed. A stone school house was built in 1939.
The following Volga German families settled in and around Antonino:
Basgall from Rothammel
Befort
Bittle from Wittmann
Dater from Zug
Dechant
Dinkel from Herzog
Ernst from Mariental
Gassman from Mariental
Gross from Mariental
Haas from Wittmann
Herl from Wittmann
Herrman from Liebental
Klaus from Ober-Monjou
Kohl from Ober-Monjou
Korbe from Mariental
Leiker from Ober-Monjou
Munsch from Schönchen
Pfannenstiel from Ober-Monjou
Rohr from Mariental
Ruder from Wittmann
Rupp
Sauer from Zug
Stecklein from Zug
Unrein from Ober-Monjou
Urban from Kamenka
Wassinger
Werth from Schönchen
Younker from Herzog
- At Home in Ellis County, Kansas: 1867-1992. Hays, KS: Ellis County Historical Society, 1991. (online)
- Leiker, James N. "Antonino, Kansas: A Changing Village on the Plains." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia 35:3 (Fall 2012): 1-6.
- Leiker, James. The History of Antonino, Kansas.
- Transcript of The Golden Jubilee of German-Russian Settlements of Ellis and Rush Counties, Kansas, 1926.
Our Lady Help of Christians Cemetery (findagrave.com)
- Antonino, Kansas (German Capital of Kansas)
- Antonino, Kansas