Church History
Sacred Heart was founded in 1920 to serve the need for a Catholic Church in the upper part of the city. The parish had been a part of Holy Rosary, but attendance at Holy Rosary involved a long journey for many of the parishioners. The church and rectory were built that same year, both of frame structure. Father John J. Hughes was appointed the first pastor of Sacred Heart by Bishop William T. Russell. In 1924, the parish hall, also of frame structure, was erected and probably used for religious instruction. In 1930, a one story brick school was built, a second floor was added later.
On September 29, 1938, a tornado destroyed the church hall, hall, and rectory. Construction began on the new buildings in 1939. The first ceremony in connection with the new church was the laying of the cornerstone, November 5, 1939, by the Rev. Henry F. Wolfe, pastor, assisted by the Rev. James J. Guinea, assistant pastor. The ceremony was held privately because the time was too near completion, and the church had to be finished. Bishop Emmet M. Walsh dedicated Sacred Heart on November 29, 1939.
Sacred Heart Parish possess an impressive group of buildings consisting of a church with a seating capacity of more than five hundred persons, a ten room rectory, a two car garage, and a two story school building. This group is arranged upon a very limited ground space that the height and mass of each structure, an attractive sky line, and an interesting distribution of shadows coordinate in such a manner as to form a harmonious ensemble, with the church building dominating.
Archbishop
Fulton Sheen
On November 23, 1939, Archbishop Fulton Sheen gave the homily at the dedication of the new church. Listen below.