Paul Dobberstein

Paul Matthias Dobberstein (September 21, 1872 – July 24, 1954) 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.

Grottoes

He is known for designing and building a series of religious grottoes:

His most famous work, however, is 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 majestic nativity scene.