Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Taylor County, and a story that starts, as so many good Texas stories do, with somebody riding a train into unfamiliar country. Back in the 1880s, this congregation wasn't a congregation at all.

It was a mission, just a handful of Catholics scattered across the Abilene area with no church to call their own. Among those early members were Abilene pioneer Theodore Heyck and the City Marshal himself, J. J.

Clinton. Now picture the priests making that run from Weatherford by train, rolling into town to hold services wherever they could find the room. First in private homes, then in public buildings.

No steeple, no pews of their own, just faith and a train schedule. Then in 1891, the Bishop of Dallas made it official. Sacred Heart was designated a parish, and the Reverend Henry D.

Brickley became its first pastor. Property at the corner of North 5th and Beech streets had already been acquired back in 1888, and by 1892 a frame church was standing there. That was a start.

But the pastors of Sacred Heart weren't content to tend just that one flock. They rode out to visit Catholics in the outlying communities too, and in time this parish became the mother church for Catholicism across the whole Abilene vicinity. A school followed, St.

Joseph's Academy, opening its doors at South 9th and Meander streets in 1916. The congregation kept growing, and during the pastorate of the Reverend Henry Knufer, property at a new site was acquired in 1926. Plans were drawn up for something larger, something worthy of everything this parish had become.

They hired a noted San Antonio architect named Leo M. J. Dielmann, and what he designed was something Abilene had never quite seen before.

The structure was completed in April 1931, built in the Spanish colonial revival style with Moorish elements woven through it. And here's the thing about that building: it stands today as the least altered and best preserved pre-1940s religious structure in the entire city. From a priest stepping off a train in the 1880s to a landmark that time itself has barely touched.

That's a long way from somebody's front parlor.

What the marker says

This church began as a mission in the 1880s to serve Catholics in the Abilene area. Early members included Abilene pioneer Theodore Heyck and City Marshal J. J. Clinton. Priests came by train from Weatherford to conduct worship services, first in private homes and later in public buildings. The Bishop of Dallas designated Sacred Heart a parish in 1891, with the Reverend Henry D. Brickley as first pastor. Property at the corner of North 5th and Beech streets was acquired in 1888 and a frame church was built there in 1892. Early pastors also visited Catholics in outlying communities, and the parish served as the "mother church" for Catholicism in the Abilene vicinity. A parish school, St. Joseph's Academy, opened at South 9th and Meander streets in 1916. During the pastorate of the Reverend Henry Knufer, property at this site was acquired in 1926, and plans were made to build a larger church for the growing congregation. Designed by noted San Antonio architect Leo M. J. Dielmann, this structure was completed in April 1931. Built in the Spanish colonial revival style, the building exhibits Moorish style elements and is the least altered and best preserved pre-1940s religious structure in Abilene. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1990.