on the project were killed in an accident when a scaffold collapsed, sending five men to the ground 50 Fuß (local feet – about 17 m) below. There was only one survivor. In April 1843, 13 families from Kaifenheim and Brachtendorf emigrated to the United States. Three more families followed them on 11 June 1844. On 3 August 1844, Father Nalbach celebrated Mass for the first time in the new church, whose building costs had amounted to somewhere between 12,000 and 13,000 Thaler. Despite the church's own relative youth, one of the bells hanging there is quite old, dating from 1450. It was then the old school's turn to be shut down by the police, but a new schoolhouse was built by 1846 for 3,000 Thaler. In 1863 and 1864, a bridge was built over the Elz to improve the road link with Mayen. This cost 1,700 Thaler. On 6 June 1865 (Whit Monday) at 10 o’clock in the evening, almost a fourth of the village burnt down in a devastating fire that saw 17 houses and 18 barns destroyed. Most of the younger villagers were away at a dancing event in Brachtendorf when the fire struck, leaving those in the village with rather little immediate help. Brachtendorf itself later lost 18 houses in a fire on 1 August 1872. Modern communications came to Kaifenheim on 1 September 1901 when a telephone post opened in the village. A new financial institution, the Raiffeisenbank, was founded on 25 May 1902. In 1907, at Mayor Surges's behest, a standing fire brigade was established. In 1912, Josef Fuhrmann, who had emigrated to Iowa with his family in 1868, came back to visit friends and kin in Kaifenheim and Gamlen. He had the great fortune to have the plans for his return trip to the United States ruined. Owing to the great demand, he could not get a ticket for the ship on which he had wanted to sail – the Titanic. This was also lucky for Kaifenheim, for years after Josef Fuhrmann's return to Iowa, he helped greatly with the installation of a new High Altar at the local church. The cost for this was 40,000 Marks, fully half of which came from Mr. Fuhrmann, allowing the altar's cost to be covered in cash. The other half of the cost was covered by others’ donations. In the spring of 1923, electric lighting came