Saint Mary's Basilica

Saint Mary's is the mother church of Catholic Phoenix, the city's first Catholic parish, organized in 1881 when Phoenix was a small territorial town. The present twin-towered church, in Spanish Colonial Revival style with a celebrated interior of stained glass, was completed in the mid-1910s on the site of the original adobe chapel. In 1985 it became the first church in Arizona elevated to the rank of minor basilica. It still holds services downtown, a survivor from the era when the whole young city could gather under one roof.

What the plaque says

Phoenix's first Catholic church and the mother church of the city. A City of Phoenix Monument, Arizona Historical Site, and National Landmark.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Phoenix — 0.3 mi
  The fifth-largest US city, built on the canals of a thousand-year-old one
• Heard Museum — 1.5 mi
  The Native Southwest, told in the first person
• Taliesin West — 17 mi
  Frank Lloyd Wright's desert masterwork, grown from the ground it stands on

More markers nearby

• Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. — steps away
• First Latter-day Saint Chapel in Phoenix — 0.3 mi
• Maricopa County Courthouse — 0.4 mi
• J. W. Walker/Central Arizona Light & Power Building — 0.5 mi