St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church
Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church. In 1886, Bishop McCloskey purchased Steller’s Woods at Cavewood Ave. (now Clifton) & Payne St. for a new parish. Named for Francesca Romana (1384-1440, canonized 1608, feast day Mar. 9), who inspired women to pray, care for sick, & feed hungry. Dedicated Oct. 2, 1887, Fr. Thos. White was first pastor. Windows and organ from St. Mary's, 1937. Organ built in 1884 by Louis Van Dinter. (Reverse) Catholic & Clifton History- Catholic diocese moved from Bardstown to Louisville 1841. 1st bishop, Rev. Joseph Flaget. Cathedral 1852. Nearby churches: St Martin du Tours 1853; St Joseph’s 1866; Holy Trinity 1882; St Francis Assisi 1886; Holy Spirit 1937. Clifton chartered 1876 and named after estate of Joshua Bowles at Vernon and Sycamore St. Early bldgs.: Toll House 1830; Ky. School Blind 1853; Workhouse 1850.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
In 1886 Bishop McCloskey bought a wooded tract in what became Louisville's Clifton neighborhood for a new parish, dedicating St. Frances of Rome the following year under its first pastor, Father Thomas White. Named for a fifteenth-century Roman saint remembered for caring for the sick and hungry, the church was one of a cluster of parishes that served the city's Catholics as the diocese grew after moving from Bardstown in 1841. The surrounding Clifton neighborhood, chartered in 1876, grew up around early institutions like the toll house and the Kentucky School for the Blind.
Why it matters
The parish and its neighborhood trace how Catholic institutions and streetcar-era suburbs expanded together, weaving faith and community into the fabric of a nineteenth-century American city.
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