Sacred Heart Catholic Church

The Handbook of Texas calls Bart J. DeWitt, who gave the Catholic Block, the founder of San Angelo. He bought 320 acres from Granville Sherwood at a dollar an acre and set up a trading post across the river from Fort Concho, later called Santa Angela. Stories of the name vary, but a local historian found that DeWitt named it for his wife, Carolina Angela, who died in 1866. By 1883 the town was San Angela, and when a post office was sought the name was rejected as ungrammatical; San Angelo was chosen.

What the plaque says

Catholic priests visited the Concho River area in the 17th and 18th centuries, but modern Catholicism began after the founding of Fort Concho in 1867. Rafter Mathurin J. Pairier (1822?-1888) began visiting here in 1874. He cared for the Catholics of Fort Concho, Ben Ficklin, and San Angelo. On September 22, 1874, he accepted donation of this land, known as "The Catholic Block," from San Angelo promoter Bart J. DeWitt. After the county seat moved to San Angelo in 1882, Father Pairier began plans for a church building here. Completed in 1884, the year Pairer became resident pastor, the stone edifice was the first church building in San Angelo. Known as Immaculate Conception, the parish included Mexican, English, Irish, and German Catholics. In 1888, Father John Sheehan, the second pastor, welcomed the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word of San Antonio, who started a Catholic school. A portion of the block was sold in 1906 when a new church building was constructed under Father Joseph Hoban. This church became known as Sacred Heart. In 1961 Pope John XXIII established the Diocese of San Angelo with Sacred Heart as the Cathedral Church. It is the mother church for many Catholic parishes in West Texas. (1984)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Miss Hattie's Bordello Museum — steps away
  The upstairs rooms on Concho Avenue where a brothel ran from 1902 until the Texas Rangers closed it in 1952, shown on short guided tours with most of the furnishings original.
• San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts — 0.5 mi
  A free art museum on the Concho beside Fort Concho, founded in the fort's 1868 quartermaster building and known nationally for its biennial ceramics competition.
• Fort Concho National Historic Landmark — 0.6 mi
  The stone post at the forks of the Concho, headquarters of the Tenth Cavalry from 1875 to 1882, saved by a woman with a museum and now a city-run landmark of 23 original buildings.
• Concho River Walk — 0.7 mi
  Four miles of lit trails along the North Concho through downtown San Angelo, rebuilt after voters taxed themselves in 2004, with gardens, sculpture, a river stage and stocked trout.

More markers nearby

• First United Methodist Church of San Angelo — steps away
• First Baptist Church of San Angelo — steps away
• John Yellott Rust — steps away
• The San Angelo Standard — steps away