Plaza Iglesia Parroquial (Parish Church Square)

The Catholic block filled up with a migration. The Handbook of Texas says wealthy Creole planters from Louisiana arrived in 1845 with the people they held in slavery, and that the county's population reached 2,522 by 1850; Liberty itself had 200 residents in 1845. Their arrival greatly expanded Catholicism, the county historical commission chair writes, and many families sent their daughters to board at the Ursuline Academy in Galveston, which opened in 1847, until sisters came to Liberty in 1859.

What the plaque says

Plaza Iglesia Parroquial (Parish Church Square) This block of the inner town of Liberty was set aside and designated for Catholic use in 1831 by J. Francisco Madero, commissioner for the Mexican state of Coahuila-Texas. In April 1846, the Methodist Episcopal Church petitioned the town board of trustees for a church site, and a log church was built on the northeast corner of the square. the Methodists relocated to Main Street, 1853. The southeast corner of the square was granted to the Catholic Church in 1853, and the first of four Catholic churches was built here. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center — 4.0 mi
  A state archives and museum north of Liberty with an exhibit on Southeast Texas history and a campus of historic buildings, including an 1848 house and an 1898 church.
• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 27 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.

More markers nearby

• Seven Pines — steps away
• Site of Liberty's Ursuline Convent — steps away
• Plaza Constitucional (Municipal Square) — steps away
• James B. Woods — steps away