Marker Inscription
Present church built 1903-1904. Third building used by this congregation as a church since the colonization of Victoria in 1824 by Don Martin de Leon. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964.
Historical Marker
Saint Mary's Catholic Church
The roadside stories worth pulling over for.
About this site
Saint Mary's Catholic Church is a historical marker in Victoria, Victoria County, dedicated in 1964. It is one of 99 historical markers documented in Victoria County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 240 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 28.7965, -97.0074 near Victoria. The nearest cataloged historic site is Victoria's First Church, Site of (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include In Memory of Edward Conrad, Old Nazareth Academy, and De Leon, Martin, Home of.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5469006566. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
St. Mary's traces its origins to 1824, when Martin De Leon founded Victoria and built an early log Catholic church, making it one of the oldest Catholic congregations in Texas. Reorganized in 1840 under the Vincentians, it became the first Catholic parish canonically established in the Republic of Texas. The present neo-Gothic church at Main and Church streets was begun in 1902 and dedicated in 1904. It was designated a Texas historical landmark in 1964 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
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Nearby in Victoria County
Historical Marker
Victoria's First Church, Site of
Victoria · 1936
Historical Marker
In Memory of Edward Conrad
Victoria · 1936
Historic Place
Old Nazareth Academy
Victoria · 1986
Historical Marker
De Leon, Martin, Home of
Victoria · 1936
Historical Marker
Old L.D. Heaton Home
Victoria · 1966
Historical Marker
Round Top House, Site of
Victoria · 1936
Historical Marker
Fossati's Delicatessen
Victoria · 1987
Historic Place
O'Connor, Thomas M., House
Victoria · 1986