Holy Cross Catholic Church
Bay City, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In May 1847, the Catholic church established a new frontier diocese in Galveston. During the next several years, many Polish Catholic immigrants moved to Matagorda County, and priests from nearby towns visited their small community, known as St. Francisville. In the latter part of the 19th century, Louisiana Thompson Bowie was instrumental in bringing the priests to deliver Mass to area residents. Born to Anna Taliferro and Elbert A. Thompson in 1848, Louisiana grew up across Caney Creek from Harris Walker Bowie, whom she married. On April 13, 1895, while in New Orleans, she was baptized into the Catholic faith at Immaculate Conception parish. Back in Texas, at her home on the Bowie Plantation, she arranged for priests to stay with her family and traveled with them to the church in St. Francisville. Bay City became Matagorda County's seat of government in 1895, and visiting priests held Mass in the courthouse or in private homes. Monsignor Jacob B. Schnetzer became priest for the Bay City area in 1907, by which time the Bowies lived in the growing town; Schnetzer stayed in their home. In March 1907, he bought lots at Avenue M and Fifth Street to build a sanctuary for the Bay City parish. Designed by prominent Galveston architect Nicholas Clayton, the structure served the congregation for many years. As the church grew during the 20th century, it built new facilties, including a rectory, school, new sanctuary and other facilities. Today, Holy Cross Catholic Church offers worship and education programs and connects its members to their faith and to their history. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After the Catholic Church created a frontier diocese at Galveston in 1847, Polish immigrant families settled in Matagorda County in a community called St. Francisville, served only by traveling priests. Convert Louisiana Thompson Bowie helped keep the faith alive, hosting clergy at her plantation home and traveling with them to Mass. When Monsignor Jacob Schnetzer arrived in 1907, he built a Bay City sanctuary designed by noted Galveston architect Nicholas Clayton, the seed of today's Holy Cross parish.
Why it matters
The parish traces how nineteenth-century Central European Catholic immigrants planted enduring institutions across rural Texas, knitting faith, community, and identity into the settlement of the Gulf coast.
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Related people
- · Louisiana Thompson Bowie
- · Monsignor Jacob B. Schnetzer
- · Nicholas Clayton
Themes & tags
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