The Old Church

Built in 1903 from stone quarried out of Tempe Butte and dedicated to Mary, this is the oldest church in the Salt River Valley. For decades it was the only Catholic church in the area, serving a scattered congregation of farmers and railroad families, and its former pastors rose to become bishops of Santa Fe and Tucson. Simple and solid, cut from the same volcanic rock that shapes the town's skyline, it survives on the National Register as a plain monument to the faith that traveled with the valley's early settlers.

What the plaque says

Built in 1903 with stone quarried from Tempe Butte and dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, this is the oldest church in the valley. For decades it was the only Catholic church in the area, and its former pastors include Bishop James Davis of Santa Fe and Bishop Francis Green of Tucson. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Phoenix — 8.2 mi
  The fifth-largest US city, built on the canals of a thousand-year-old one
• Heard Museum — 8.6 mi
  The Native Southwest, told in the first person
• Taliesin West — 14 mi
  Frank Lloyd Wright's desert masterwork, grown from the ground it stands on

More markers nearby

• Tempe Hardware Building — 0.3 mi
• Farmer-Goodwin Mansion — 0.5 mi
• Hayden House — 0.6 mi
• Site of Hayden's Ferry — 0.6 mi