St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Catholic Church
Ballinger, Runnels County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Early Roman Catholic worship services in Ballinger were held by missionaries in a church building constructed in 1895. In 1910, during the pastorate of the Rev. J. B. Frigon, this building was completed to serve the congregation. Constructed of native rock quarried from nearby stone deposits, the Gothic revival building is a good example of the work of local craftsmen. A Ballinger landmark, it features a single square tower on its three-part facade. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1984
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Catholic worship reached the west Texas town of Ballinger through traveling missionaries who used a church built in 1895. In 1910 this Gothic Revival sanctuary was completed under the Rev. J. B. Frigon, built of native rock quarried nearby by local craftsmen. Its single square tower and three-part facade have made it a landmark of the Runnels County plains.
Why it matters
Stone churches raised by local hands marked the arrival of permanent faith communities on the west Texas frontier, anchoring towns still finding their footing.
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Related people
- · J. B. Frigon
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Runnels County
Ballinger, TX
Carved from Bexar and Travis counties, Runnels County was created in 1858 and formally organized in 1880. It honors Hiram G. Runnels, a lawyer, Mississippi governor, and later Texas legislator. Its first county seat was Runnels City, but that role passed to Ballinger in 1888.
Runnels County Courthouse
Ballinger, TX
After Runnels County organized in 1880, its residents fought a heated contest with Runnels City before Ballinger—on land the Santa Fe Railroad had platted in 1886—won the county seat, and the courthouse rose here in 1888-89. It stands on one of the largest courthouse squares in Texas, a full two city blocks. A 1941 remodeling added two wings faced with stone from the same local quarry reopened along the Colorado River.
Charles H. Noyes
Ballinger, TX
When 21-year-old Charles H. Noyes was killed in 1919 by a fall from his horse while working cattle on his family's ranch, his grieving parents commissioned a monument not only to their son but to all Texas cowboys. Sculptor Pompeo Coppini studied horses for two years before creating the bronze, producing a work that memorializes the vanishing world of the open-range cowhand.
Site of Pickettville
Ballinger, TX
Founded in 1862, Pickettville was the first civilian settlement in Runnels County, named for the picket houses and corrals its frontier families built. Ranching households — the Guests, the Wylie brothers and their hands, the Gordons, and the Coffeys — banded together for protection amid the Indian raids that intensified during the Civil War. In 1866 they drove their cattle off to open range, and their old picket corrals later held the herds of trail drivers passing through.