Plaza Iglesia Parroquial (Parish Church Square)

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back in 1831, a man named J. Francisco Madero, commissioner for the Mexican state of Coahuila-Texas, looked at this block in the inner town of Liberty and made a decision.

He set it aside. Designated it for Catholic use. Just like that, this square had a purpose, and a future.

Now, what happens next is the part that makes history interesting. Because life, as it turns out, doesn't always follow the original plan. Fast forward to April of 1846.

The Methodist Episcopal Church comes knocking, petitioning the town board of trustees for a church site right here on this very square. And they got it. A log church went up on the northeast corner, and for a time, that corner had a congregation, a community, a reason to gather.

But 1853 is when the square really started to sort itself out. The Methodists relocated to Main Street that year, clearing out of the northeast corner. And in that same year, 1853, the southeast corner of the square was granted to the Catholic Church.

The original designation, all those years earlier, finding its way home. And on that southeast corner, the first of four Catholic churches was built. The first of four.

That little detail just sits there on the marker, quiet as can be, carrying the weight of everything that came after. One corner, one square, one town called Liberty, and more than twenty years of history workin' itself out, one church at a time.

What the marker says

This block of the inner town of Liberty was set aside and designated for Catholic use in 1831 by J. Francisco Madero, commissioner for the Mexican state of Coahuila-Texas. In April 1846, the Methodist Episcopal Church petitioned the town board of trustees for a church site, and a log church was built on the northeast corner of the square. the Methodists relocated to Main Street, 1853. The southeast corner of the square was granted to the Catholic Church in 1853, and the first of four Catholic churches was built here.