Saint Peter the Apostle Catholic Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Laredo already had itself a Catholic church when the 1880s rolled around, and a whole new wave of families started arriving in town. Non-Spanish-speaking families, folks who needed a congregation that could meet them where they were.

So in 1897, a second Catholic church was organized in Laredo, and Saint Peter the Apostle was born as an English-speaking parish. The second Catholic church in the whole city. That's a distinction that carries some weight.

To build it right, they brought in a German craftsman by the name of Heinrich Postcheller, and Postcheller designed the structure that went up that same year, 1897. Now, it's been altered numerous times since then, as buildings that truly serve their community tend to be, shaped and reshaped by the hands of the people who love them. Then, about 1899, the Nuns of the Ursuline Order came to St.

Peter's and established a neighborhood school right there. A school rooted in the same block as the church, serving the same families who had staked their lives on this corner of Laredo. Years passed.

Decades passed. And in 1939, a man named Monsignor Dan Lanning did something that would echo well beyond the church walls. He founded the Society of Martha Washington, and through that society, he integrated women into the activities of Laredo's renowned Washington's Birthday Celebration.

That celebration was already famous. Monsignor Lanning simply made sure the women of St. Peter's had a place at the heart of it.

One congregation, one corner of Laredo, and more than a little history packed into those walls.

What the marker says

This congregation, the second Catholic church organized in Laredo, began in 1897 as an English speaking parish to serve non Spanish speaking families who arrived in Laredo during the 1880s. The church structure, designed by German craftsman Heinrich Postcheller, was built in 1897 and has undergone numerous alterations. Nuns of the Ursuline Order established a neighborhood school at St. Peter's about 1899. In 1939 Monsignor Dan Lanning founded the society of Martha Washington, which integrated women into activities of the renowned Washington's birthday celebration. (1993)