St Mary's Catholic Church - Memphis, Tennessee, USA. - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

While St. Mary's Catholic parish was founded in 1852, a church was not built at the site until 1864, while the city was still occupied by federal troops during the civil war.

St. Mary's has the only Lourdes grotto in the area, and has been a center of religious life for German-speaking Catholic immigrants and their descendants for generations.

"About St. Mary's
In October 1864 the cornerstone for St. Mary's German Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception was laid; on October 30, 1870, the church was dedicated. Construction began in August 2002 on major renovations. As Memphis lies in the heart of the New Madrid fault, modifications were needed for earthquake resistance, as well as protection from wind damage.

St. Marys Soup Kitchen began when the Franciscans took charge in 1870. St. Marys opened the first parochial high school in Tennessee in 1887 and in 1889 started a night school providing an opportunity for those who worked to further their education. In 1912, St. Marys was first again with a kindergarten for children four to six years of age. Before World War II, St. Marys always participated in the Cotton Carnival parade, its float won first place nine out of ten years.

The altars are handmade of wood shipped from Germany. The carved pews, the ornate confessional, and the frames of the Stations of the Cross were mostly made by Franciscan brothers who traveled from place to place wherever the Franciscans settled to build church furnishings on site.

Following World War II, major shifts in Memphis' population caused St. Marys to lose most of her territorial parishioners. Urban renewal completely changed downtown Memphis and made St. Marys future look bleak indeed.

However, by the turn of the 20th century, descendants of the original parishioners began to return from all over the city to worship. Today, the parish is made up of people from all areas of Greater Memphis, including Mississippi and Arkansas. As a result of the emphasis of rebuilding downtown Memphis, and an increased number of tourists to the area, the future of St. Marys is very bright.
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Street address of Church:
55 Market St, Memphis, TN 38105

Wikipedia Url: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/01/2018 veritas vita visited it