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St. Mary's Catholic Church

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1900, Patrick P. Mills. 121 E. 7th Ave.
  • (Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

A 1931 windstorm blew off St. Mary's original tall steeple. Now only a cross and stumpy fragment and a miniature metal spire top the crenelated bell tower. Local brick, now stuccoed, forms the walls of this cruciform church with a steep-pitched roof and Gothic-arched openings. Three large, stained glass windows from the Royal Bavarian Studios in Munich are said to have cost almost as much as the entire church. An unusual paneled oak ceiling further distinguishes this church, sometimes called Our Lady of the Seven Dolors. St. Mary's School (1912), after the 1922 addition of six classrooms and an auditorium, was the largest parochial school in Colorado, with classroom space for 1,250 pupils. The Mission Revival rectory (1919) stands on the site of the 1882 adobe church, which replaced the original adobe-covered jacal church of the 1870s.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
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Data

What's Nearby

Post Office
Gray Cottage
Huerfano County Courthouse and Jail
Visitors' Center (Colorado & Southern Depot)
Medical Office (Community House)

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "St. Mary's Catholic Church", [Walsenburg, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-HF05.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 372-372.

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