St. Joseph's Catholic Church

Catholic missionaries are believed to have traveled through this country before the county was organized, and until 1872 the county was largely Catholic or Methodist. Fort Mason's protection had drawn German, Irish and English settlers. Mason's churches multiplied in the 1870s: the Lutheran congregation organized on February 15, 1872, under the Rev. H. Huber, on land given by the Schuessler family, and the Baptists organized the same year. The Catholic church built in 1876 was one of the oldest church buildings in town to survive into the twentieth century.

What the plaque says

St. Joseph's Catholic Church This congregation was organized in February 1873, though Catholic worship services had been held in area homes by visiting clergy for several years. Primary members of the congregation were German and Irish immigrants. The land on which the church was built was given by David and Lucy Doole in 1881, though the structure had been completed in 1876. Local carpenters and stonemasons provided construction labor. The building has undergone several renovations over the years, including recent additions. St. Joseph's Church has served the community for generations. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Mason — 0.5 mi
  A reconstructed officers' quarters on Post Oak Hill above Mason, standing where the army's stone fort was taken apart by the town that grew up below it.
• Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve — 14 mi
  A limestone cave on the James River where about four million Mexican free-tailed bats raise their young each summer, kept open to visitors by a family's gift.
• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area — 30 mi
  A dome of pink granite north of Fredericksburg that rises some 385 feet above Sandy Creek, creaks as it cools at night, and has drawn people for thousands of years.

More markers nearby

• First Comanche-German Meeting — 0.2 mi
• Two Sheriffs of Mason County — 0.2 mi
• Whorlie Well — 0.3 mi
• The Commercial Bank — 0.4 mi