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Peter Paul Loewen
he historic Peter Paul Loewen House is a traditional
Russian clay brick house built in 1876 in the
Mennonite settlement village of Hoffnungsthal. The
house features a Russian Mennonite straw-burning
oven-furnace combination. It is the last remaining
house of its kind in North America. Here visitors will
see a small but very important collection of
handmade Russian Mennonite furniture (the
museum is one of only four museums in North
America known to collect and exhibit Russian
Mennonite furniture).
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eter Paul Loewen was born March 27, 1837 in the
South Russian Mennonite immigrant colony of
Molotschna, most probably in the village
Grossweide. At age fifteen we find him with his
family in the city of Novo-Karakuba northeast of the
Mennonite colonies in south Russia. The Loewen
family moved back to the Mennonite village of
Margenau sometime later. Margenau was one of
several villages founded in 1819 by Mennonites
fleeing the Napoleonic Wars in Prussia.
Margenau was located approximately in the center of the Molotschna colony. The Molotschna colony, founded
in 1803, became the largest of the Mennonite settlements in South Russia.
In 1876 Peter Paul and Anna Loewen immigrated to the United States with their young children, Peter, 11
years old; Elisabeth, 10 years old; Anna, 8 years old; and Justina, 3 years old. In Antwerp they boarded the
steamship SS Kenilworth of the American Red Star Line and headed for New York. As was the case with
many Mennonites leaving Europe at that time, they were joined in their journey by other Mennonites. Notably,
the Loewens were joined by the Heinrich Wiebe family. Heinrich Wiebe was Anna’s younger brother and Peter
Paul Loewen’s brother-in-law. They arrived in Kansas in the summer of that year and with the help of the
Wiebe family built their house of Russian unbaked clay bricks.
The house is the last surviving restored Russian Mennonite structure of its kind in North America. It was
moved to the city of Hillsboro in 1958 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
in 1803, became the largest of the Mennonite settlements in South Russia.
In 1876 Peter Paul and Anna Loewen immigrated to the United States with their young children, Peter, 11
years old; Elisabeth, 10 years old; Anna, 8 years old; and Justina, 3 years old. In Antwerp they boarded the
steamship SS Kenilworth of the American Red Star Line and headed for New York. As was the case with
many Mennonites leaving Europe at that time, they were joined in their journey by other Mennonites. Notably,
the Loewens were joined by the Heinrich Wiebe family. Heinrich Wiebe was Anna’s younger brother and Peter
Paul Loewen’s brother-in-law. They arrived in Kansas in the summer of that year and with the help of the
Wiebe family built their house of Russian unbaked clay bricks.
The house is the last surviving restored Russian Mennonite structure of its kind in North America. It was
moved to the city of Hillsboro in 1958 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
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