Plaza Iglesia Parroquial (Parish Church Square)
Liberty, Liberty County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This block of the inner town of Liberty was set aside and designated for Catholic use in 1831 by J. Francisco Madero, commissioner for the Mexican state of Coahuila-Texas. In April 1846, the Methodist Episcopal Church petitioned the town board of trustees for a church site, and a log church was built on the northeast corner of the square. the Methodists relocated to Main Street, 1853. The southeast corner of the square was granted to the Catholic Church in 1853, and the first of four Catholic churches was built here.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Liberty was laid out in 1831, the Mexican commissioner J. Francisco Madero set aside this block of the inner town for Catholic use, part of the formal town-planning of Mexican Coahuila-Texas. History proved less orderly than the plat: in 1846 Methodists petitioned for and built a log church on the square's northeast corner, moving to Main Street in 1853, the same year the Catholic Church received the southeast corner and raised the first of four churches here.
Why it matters
The square captures the layered founding of a Texas town under Mexican rule and the shifting religious life of a frontier community as it passed from Mexico to the Republic and into statehood.
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Related people
- · J. Francisco Madero
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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