Stella Maris Chapel

Byrne, who paid for the chapel, came from County Wicklow and served as a private in Ira Westover's company in March 1836. He built wharves and warehouses at Lamar, served as Refugio County clerk from 1839 to 1841 and sat in the republic's Senate in the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Congresses. Before the Civil War he persuaded Samuel and James B. Colt and Randolph B. Marcy to plan a munitions works near Lamar, and with Pryor Lea he planned a railroad to make the town a terminus; the war ended both schemes.

What the plaque says

Stella Maris Chapel Irish immigrant James W. Byrne (1787-1865), a veteran of the Texas Revolution, was an early settler of this area. He established the town of Lamar and, with his wife Harriet, sold land on Aransas Bay to the Catholic church for a chapel site. Byrne engaged a French architect to design the structure, which was completed in 1858. Called Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) Chapel, it was built of shellcrete, a shell-aggregate masonry. An important link with the area's early Roman Catholic heritage, the chapel was moved to this site in 1986. (1986)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Site of the Town of Lamar — 0.5 mi
• Site of One of the Homes of James Power — 3.4 mi
• Site of Marion Packing Co. — 6.1 mi
• Fulton — 6.4 mi