DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this spot in Nacogdoches. Now settle in, because this story starts a long, long way back — and it takes its time getting where it's going. The Catholic Church and Nacogdoches have been tangled up together since the early eighteenth century, when the first Spanish missions rose up out of this East Texas piney country.
That is not a short pedigree. But if you think a history that old runs smooth, well — you have not been payin' attention to Texas. There were French incursions into Texas between 1719 and 1721 that disrupted things considerably.
Then the Spanish up and abandoned Nacogdoches entirely, from 1773 until 1779. And just when you might think the worst was past, the beginnings of the Texas Revolution in 1834 threw the church into another stretch of disruption that would not end until 1847 — the year Texas was admitted into the United States. Three separate interruptions, spanning parts of two centuries.
The kind of history that'll wear a lesser institution down to nothing. This one endured. In 1847, the church created the Diocese of Galveston, and the first Bishop, Jean Marie Odin, made a decision that would change Nacogdoches for good — he upgraded the community from mission status to parish status.
That single act was the official establishment of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. And to lead this new parish, they appointed a French priest by the name of Father Louis Chambodut as the first pastor. Now here is where you start to appreciate the scale of what these folks were dealing with.
In its earliest days, the Sacred Heart Parish didn't just serve Nacogdoches. It reached from the Sabine River all the way to the Red River, and west as far as Dallas. One parish.
That whole stretch of Texas. It would take four decades and the formation of several other parishes before that territory got carved down to something more manageable. But in 1847 — that same consequential year — Sacred Heart Parish built itself a church right here.
A frame building, fifty feet by twenty-six, set on the east side of Elm Street, which later took the name Pecan Street, between Main and Hospital streets. A modest footprint for a congregation with an enormous reach. Over the years, as needs changed, additions went up — a belfry, a rectory, the structure growing piece by piece around its original bones.
And that central location, right in the heart of Nacogdoches, held the parish for the better part of a century. Then in 1936, the congregation moved to a larger home on North Street at the corner of Mimms Avenue. And the story didn't stop there — in 1992, they moved again, to a third location out on Appleby Sand Road.
As for that original 1847 church building? It was removed from this very site, relocated more than once, and finally — finally — placed at the church's current location for restoration. Nearly a century and a half of survival, for a building that started as fifty feet of frame timber on an East Texas street corner.
Some things in this state just refuse to quit.
What the marker says
The Catholic Church's history has been intertwined with that of Nacogdoches since the first Spanish missions were constructed in the area during the early eighteenth century. Disruptions in the church's activities occurred 1719-1721 during French incursions into Texas, from 1773 until 1779 when the Spanish abandoned Nacogdoches, and from the beginnings of the Texas Revolution in 1834 until 1847, after Texas was admitted into the United States. When the church created the Diocese of Galveston in 1847, the first Bishop, Jean Marie Odin, upgraded Nacogdoches from mission to parish status. The creation of the parish marked the official establishment of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. French priest Father Louis Chambodut was appointed as the first pastor of the newly formed parish. In its earliest days, the Sacred Heart Parish encompassed an area from the Sabine River to the Red River, and west to Dallas, until the formation of other parishes during the next four decades. In 1847, Sacred Heart Parish built a 50' X 26' frame church building on the east side of Elm (later Pecan) Street, between Main and Hospital streets. As needs changed, several additions were made to the original structure, including a belfry and rectory. This central location, in the heart of Nacogdoches, served the parish until the 1930s. The congregation moved to a larger home on North Street at the corner of Mimms Avenue in 1936, and later to a third location on Appleby Sand Road in 1992. The 1847 church structure, removed from its original site and relocated several times, was finally placed at the church's current site for restoration. (2009)