St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory
About this property
St. Ambrose Cathedral is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. It serves as a parish church and as the seat of the Diocese of Des Moines in the Catholic Church. The cathedral, along with the adjoining rectory, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The predecessors to St. Ambrose Cathedral were the three St. Ambrose Churches in Des Moines. The first mass in present-day Des Moines was celebrated in a log hut in 1851 at Fort Des Moines by Alexander Hattenberger, a priest from Ottumwa, Iowa. At the time, Des Moines was part of the Diocese of Dubuque, which covered the entire state of Iowa. Over the next few years, priests from Dubuque would visit Des Moines to celebrate mass or perform sacraments for Catholics. In 1856, a Father De Cailly purchased a land parcel in Des Moines for its first Catholic church. George Plathe, the first resident priest assigned to Des Moines, constructed the first St. Ambrose Church. The new church was only 40 by 24 feet (12.2 by 7.3 m). At that time, St. Ambrose was the only parish in southwest Iowa. John F. Brazill was appointed pastor of St. Ambrose in 1861; he built the St. Ambrose grade school in 1863. During this period, Bishop Clement Smyth of Dubuque named Brazill the vicar general of the diocese. Over the next two decades, he used his connections with the state government to amass large real estate holdings in Des Moines, both for himself and the diocese. In 1865, a contingent of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary moved to Des Moines to teach at St. Ambrose. In 1865, Brazill completed construction of the second St. Ambrose Church, a larger stone building. The Gothic Revival structure featured two towers that flanked the main facade. In 1881, Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of Davenport, which included Des Moines. The growth of St. Ambrose Parish in the 1880s prompted its pastor, Michael Flavin, to start planning a new church. He decided to build the church on a property acquired by Brazill at Sixth and High Streets in Des Moines. Flavin hired the architect James J. Egan of Chicago to design the building. He was already working on Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport Flavin started construction of the third St. Ambrose church in 1890 and it was completed the following year. It was built for about $120,000. Bishop Henry Cosgrove of Davenport dedicated St. Ambrose on October 11, 1891. While visiting the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Flavin saw a model for a high altar designed by Tiffany Studios in New York City. He ordered a marble copy of it for St. Ambrose from Italy.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory listed on the National Register?
St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 29, 1979.
What type of historic resource is St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory?
St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory?
The period of significance for St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory?
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